SMITHSONIAN  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  KNOWLEDGE. 


OBSERVATIONS 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY, 

WITH  A SPECIAL  NOTICE  OP 

ZAPOTEC  REMAINS, 


DELINEATED  IN  MR.  J.  G.  SAWKINS’S  DRAWINGS  OF  MITLA,  ETC. 


BRANTZ  MAYER. 


[accepted  FOR  PUBLICATION,  JUNE,  185G.] 


COMMISSION 


TO  WHICH  THIS  PAPER  HAS  BEEN  REFERRED. 

Samuel  F.  Haven, 

E.  H.  Davis,  M.  D. 

Joseph  Henry, 

Secretary  S.  I. 


T.  K.  AND  P.  G.  COLLINS,  PRINTERS, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY ; 

ZAPOTEC  ARCHITECTURE/ ETC.,  AT  MITLA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

During  the  last  twenty  years,  the  attention  of  students  has  been  directed  with 
much  zeal  to  the  investigation  of  American  Archaeology.  The  peopling  of  our 
continent,  the  romantic  ideas  attached  to  the  remnants  of  our  Indian  race,  the 
strangeness  of  their  architectural  remains,  and  sometimes  mere  curiosity,  have  been 
the  motives  for  this  labor;  yet  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  very  definite  historical 
results  have  been  obtained  from  these  studies,  and  that  it  is  probable  the  future 
will  be  equally  barren  of  scientific  certainty.  The  works  of  McCulloh,  Schoolcraft, 
Gallatin,  Rafinesque,  Bradford,  Squier,  Davis,  Lapham,  Whittlesey,  and  others, 
in  regard  to  the  aboriginal  remains  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States;  and 
the  publications  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society;  the  vast  repository  of  Lord 
Kingsborough’s  volumes  relative  to  Mexican  antiquities ; the  admirable  work  of 
Antonio  Gama;  the  illustrated  publications  of  Stephens,  Catherwcod,  Norman,  and 
Squier,  on  Yucatan,  Central  America,  Nicaragua,  and  Honduras;  the  Crania  Ame- 
ricana of  Morton,  and  the  Peruvian  Antiquities  of  Yon  Tschudi, — have  presented 
us,  mainly,  the  physical  remains  of  our  ancient  continent;  but,  while  they  serve 
to  stimulate  our  curiosity  and  wonder,  they  have  done  very  little  in  elucidating 
the  national  antiquity  or  personal  story  of  our  aborigines.  After  a careful  study 
of  all  these  books,  the  question  may  still  be  properly  asked  : Who  were  the  Indians 
of  this  northern  continent  and  whence  did  they  come?  Who  were  the  Toltecs, 
Chichimecs,  and  Aztecs  of  Mexico?  What  was  their  origin,  and  what  are  the  facts 
and  exact  chronology  of  their  history?  Who  built  and  dwelt  in  the  civilized 
cities  of  Yucatan?  What  was  the  origin  of  the  wealth,  refinement,  and  polity  of 
Peru?  Who  were  the  Araucanians?  In  fact,  excepting  the  fanciful  traditions  of 
the  northern  tribes  at  the  period  of  European  occupation,  and  the  few  scattered 
“picture  writings”  and  legends  of  Mexico,  we  have  very  little  but  architectural, 
image,  and  utensil  remains,  to  inform  us  how  far  the  inhabitants  of  the  western 
world  had  advanced  beyond  the  mere  supply  of  animal  wants,  towards  those  higher 
degrees  of  intellectual  and  social  progress,  in  which  taste,  sensibility,  and  moral 
feeling  expand  into  civilization. 

This  progress  is  shown  by  the  traditions  or  written  history  of  all  people  who  have 
emerged  from  barbarism.  They  hunger,  and,  at  first,  allay  the  cravings  of  appetite 
by  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  or  invent  the  simplest  instruments  to  pursue  the  chase. 
They  suffer  from  cold,  and  clothe  themselves  in  the  skins  of  beasts  they  have 
l 


2 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


slain.  They  are  exposed  to  the  rain  and  frost  of  winter,  or  the  heat  of  summer, 
and,  after  finding  the  forest  boughs  inadequate  for  protection,  they  learn  to  build 
for  temporary  or  permanent  comfort.  As  the  family  grows  into  a tribe,  and  the 
tribe  multiplies  its  numbers,  they  congregate  in  villages  or  towns,  which,  through 
fear  or  affection,  become  affiliated  by  the  bond  of  nationality.  During  this  process, 
which  often  requires  centuries,  according  to  the  grade  of  aggregate  intellect,  all 
the  wants  and  passions  of  society  make  themselves  gradually  known.  They  de- 
velop gradually  in  the  natural  growth  of  a people.  Municipalities  and  states  beget 
police,  law,  government.  The  changes  of  day  and  night  are  beheld;  the  regular 
motion  of  sun,  moon,  and  stars  is  noted;  seasons  are  marked;  and  the  simpler 
portions  of  astronomy  are  developed  in  the  scientific  division  of  time,  as  chronicled 
in  the  dial  of  the  sky.  The  rivalry  of  neighboring  states  begets  wars;  and  thence, 
protection  ensues  in  the  shape  of  arms,  soldiery,  arsenals,  military  experience,  and 
fortifications.  The  inevitable  conviction  of  a creative  and  preservative  Power  im- 
presses the  minds  of  all  with  a religious  sentiment,  which  begets  worship  and  builds 
temples,  either  for  adoration  or  propitiation,  according  as  the  national  mind  is 
exalted  or  grovelling.  And,  finally,  as  the  people  observe  the  necessity  of  recurring 
to  the  past  for  facts  and  principles,  they  advance  from  oral  tradition  to  written  and 
monumental  records,  which  modern  civilization  endeavors  to  ripen  into  history. 

Now,  in  the  absence  of  explicit  records  in  regard  to  American  nations,  the  object 
of  antiquarian  research,  at  present,  is  not  so  much  to  penetrate,  by  fanciful  guesses 
or  resemblances,  the  periods  antecedent  to  the  European  occupation  of  our  conti- 
nent, as  to  fix  the  world’s  attention  on  the  actual  condition  of  the  aboriginal  nations 
at  the  period  of  the  conquest,  and  to  endeavor,  from  their  remains,  to  form  a fair 
estimate  of  their  relative  status  at  that  time.  I consider  this  the  true  and  best 
object  to  propose ; because,  most  of  the  records — legendary,  hieroglyphic,  or  monu- 
mental— concerning  the  antiquity  of  the  chief  centres  of  civilization  on  this  continent, 
which  were  rescued  from  destruction,  have  been  deciphered  as  far  as  practicable, 
and  their  valuable  facts  detailed  by  investigators.  Of  all  things,  the  American  anti- 
quarian should,  as  yet,  avoid  the  peril  of  starting  in  his  investigations  with  cm 
hypothesis,  for  the  chances  are  very  great  that,  in  the  mythic  confusion  of  our 
aboriginal  past,  he  will  find  abundant  hints  to  justify  any  ideas  excited  by  his 
credulity  or  hopes.  In  the  present  state  of  our  archaeology,  all  labors  should  be 
contributions  to  that  store  of  facts,  which,  in  time,  may  form  a mass  of  testimony 
whence  future  historians  shall  either  draw  a rational  picture  of  ante-Columbian 
civilization,  or  be  justified  in  declaring  that  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  disclosed. 

The  ancient  history  of  our  own  tribes,  it  is  well  known,  is  a matter  of  tradition 
alone,  for  they  had  no  written  language ; or,  if  they  had,  their  story  was  not  en- 
graved on  monuments  or  transmitted  on  imperishable  materials.  Their  wampum 
and  pictograplis  may  scarcely  be  entitled  to  consideration  for  permanent  or  historical 
purposes.  Among  the  Peruvians,  the  quipo  was  only  a species  of  memoria  technica, 
and  served  rather  to  aid  arithmeticians  and  financiers,  than  to  establish  an  inde- 
pendence of  individual  recollection.  The  Aztecs,  and  perhaps  their  predecessors 
in  the  valley  of  Mexico,  possessed  a “picture  writing,”  which  was  chiefly  used  for 
the  recording  of  facts  apart  from  abstract  ideas;  but  the  Spaniards  who  seized  Peru 


3 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY. 

and  Mexico  did  not  protect  these  simple  archives,  flimsy  as  they  were,  from  destruc- 
tion by  an  ignorant  soldiery  and  their  superstitious  companions.  The  Mexican 
“picture  writing”  consisted  of  several  elements:  an  arbitrary  system  of  symbols  to 
denote  years,  months,  days,  seasons,  the  elements,  and  events  of  frequent  occur- 
rence ; an  effort  to  delineate  persons  and  their  acts  by  rude  drawings ; and  a 
phonetic  system,  which,  through  objects,  conveyed  sounds  that,  singly  or  in  com- 
bination, expressed  the  facts  they  were  designed  to  record.  This  imperfect  and 
mixed  process  of  painting  and  symbolizing  thought,  was  stopped  at  this  stage,  for  it 
was  the  extent  of  Aztec  invention  at  the  period  of  the  conquest,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  judge,  from  the  known  character  of  the  people,  whether  further  progress  would 
have  been  made.  But  this  inquiry  is  of  comparatively  small  importance,  as  the 
archives  of  Mexico  and  Tezcoco,  containing  “ picture  writings”  which  were  regarded 
by  the  Spaniards  as  the  “ symbols  of  a pestilent  superstition,”  were  piled  in  a heap 
by  order  of  Zumarraga,  the  first  archbishop  of  Mexico,  and  reduced  to  ashes.1  This 
species  of  literary  auto  da  fe  was  imitated  by  other  Spanish  authorities,  so  that 
every  painted  paper  or  graven  image  they  found  was  soon  annihilated  by  the 
invaders.  Still,  a few  of  these  relics  escaped  the  general  wreck,  and  were  deposited 
in  the  Royal  Libraries  of  Paris,  Berlin,  and  Dresden;  the  Imperial  Library  of 
Vienna;  the  Museum  and  Vatican  at  Rome;  the  library  of  the  Institute  at  Bologna; 
and  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford. 

In  summing  up  the  character  of  the  most  important  of  these  relics,  Mr.  Gallatin 
observes  that,  “ whatever  may  have  been  the  value  of  the  Mexican  paintings 
destroyed  by  the  Spanish  clergy,  it  has  now  been  shown  that  those  which  have 
been  preserved  contain  but  a meagre  account  of  the  Mexican  history  for  the  one 
hundred  years  preceding  the  conquest,  and  hardly  anything  that  relates  to  prior 
events.”2  The  consequence  of  this  is,  that  the  antecedent  history  of  the  aboriginal 
nations  inhabiting  the  territory  of  modern  Mexico  must  rest  upon  the  reports  of 
early  Spanish  writers,  their  monumental  remains,  and,  perhaps  mainly,  on  the 
questionable  authority  of  Ixtlilxochitl.3 


Prescott,  Conquest  of  Mexico,  I,  101.  See  his  authorities. 

Am.  Ethnological  Soc.  Trans.,  I,  145. 

The  sources  of  information  iu  regard  to  early  Mexican  history  and  antiquity  are  the  following 

/The  Codex  Yaticanus,  No.  3116. 

“ Yaticanus,  No.  3138. 

“ Borgianus,  of  Yeletri. 


No.  1.  The  Mexican  Paintings,  &c. 
These  are  engraved  in  Lord 
Kingsborough’s  1st,  2d,  and  3d/ 
volumes  of  Mexican  Antiqui- 
ties. 


of  Mr.  Fejervari. 
Laud. 


Bologna. 

Pess  Hungary, 

Oxford,  Arbp: 

Yienna. 

Oxford,  Bodleian. 

Oxford,  Selden, 

Berlin,  of  Humboldt. 
Dresden. 

Boturini. 

Paris,  Tell: 

Tellurianus  Remensis. 
Oxford,  Mendoza  Collection. 


(Continued  ovek  Page.) 


4 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


“Clavigero,”  says  Prescott,* 1 11  “talks  of  Boturini’s  having  written  ‘on  the  faith  of 
Toltec  historians.’2  But  that  scholar  does  not  pretend  to  have  ever  met  a Toltec  MS. 
himself,  and  had  heard  of  only  one  in  the  possession  of  Ixtlilxochitl.3  The  latter 
writer  tells  us  that  his  account  of  the  Toltec  and  Chichimec  nations  was  ‘ derived 
from  interpretation’  (probably  of  the  Tezcocan  paintings),  ‘and  from  the  traditions 
of  old  men  ;’4  poor  authority  for  events  which  had  passed  centuries  before.”  This 
depreciation  of  the  sources  of  recorded  and  traditionary  information  in  regard  to 
Mexico  by  Mr.  Prescott,  has  drawn  a critical  notice  from  Don  Jose  F.  Ramirez,  in 
his  notes  on  the  Spanish  translation  of  the  history  of  the  conquest,  published  in 
Mexico.5  The  criticism,  though  earnest  and  ingenious,  does  not  seem  to  improve 
our  sources  of  knowledge  and  their  authoritative  value.  Senor  Ramirez  was  natu- 
rally anxious  to  sustain  the  idea  of  an  extremely  ancient  civilization,  and  to  destroy 
as  much  as  possible  the  fabulous  air  which  some  of  the  Spanish  narratives  -were 


No.  2.  Torquemada’s  “ Monarchia  Indiana.” 

3.  Bernardino  de  Sahaguns’s  “ Historia  Universal  de  Nueva  Espania.” 

4.  Boturini’s  “Idea  da  una  Nueva  Historia  General  de  la  America  Septentrional.” 

5.  Fernando  de  Alva  Ixtlilxochitl’s  “Relaciones,  Historia  Chiehimeca.” 

6.  Castaneda’s  “ Viaje  a Cibola,”  1540. 

1.  Fray  Bartolome  de  las  Casas,  “Historia  General  de  las  Indias,”  &c.  &c. 

8.  Antonio  de  Herrera’s  “ Historia  General  de  las  Indias  Occidentales.” 

9.  Torebio  de  Benavente,  “Historia  General  de  los  Indios  de  Nueva  Espania.” 

10.  Pietro  Martire  de  Anglera,  “Decades  de  Orbe  Novo.”  1581. 

11.  Gonzalo  de  Oviedo  y Yaldes,  “Historia  General  de  las  Indias.” 

12.  Diego  Munos  Camargo’s  “ Historia  de  Tlascala — pedazo  de  historia  verdadera.” 

13.  Francisco  Lopez  de  Gomara’s  “Cronica  de  la  Nueva  Espania.” 

14.  Bernal  Diaz  del  Castillo’s  “Historia  Yerdadera  de  la  Conquesta  de  la  Nueva  Espania.” 

15.  Pesquisia  contra  “Pedro  de  Alvarado  y Nuno  de  Guzman.” 

16.  Don  Martin  Yeytia’s  “ Historia  Antigua  de  Mejico.” 

11.  Clavigero’s  “ Storia  Antica  de  Messico.” 

18  Antonio  Leon  y Gama’s  “Descripcion  de  las  dos  Piedras,”  &c.  &c.  &c.  1832. 

19.  Lord  Kingsborough’s  “Mexican  Antiquities.”  London,  1830. 

20.  Cavo  y Bustamante’s  “Tres  Siglos  de  Mejico.” 

21.  Alaman’s  works  on  Mexican  History,  &c.  &c. 

22.  Nebel,  “ Yoyage  Pittoresque  et  Archceologique  a Mexique.” 

23.  Stephens’s  works  on  Central  America,  Yucatan,  and  Chiapas. 

24.  Norman’s  works  on  Yucatan  and  Mexico. 

25.  Catherwood’s  illustrations  of  Stephens’s  works. 

26.  Bartlett’s  “Personal  Narrative.” 

21.  Mexico  : Aztec,  Spanish,  and  Republican. 

28.  De  Solis,  “ Historia  de  la  Conquista  de  Mejico.” 

29.  Robertson’s  “History  of  America.” 

30.  Prescott’s  “History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico.” 

31.  Ramirez,  Notes  on  the  Spanish  translation  of  the  last  work; Mexico,  1844. 

32.  The  vols.  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society’s  Transactions.” 

1 Prescott,  Conq.  Mex.,  I,  12,  vote.  I 

2 Storia  de  Messico,  I,  128. 

3 Nueva  Historia  General,  p.  110. 

4 Ixtlilxochitl,  Rel. 

5 Prescott,  Conquista  de  Mejico,  voh  II;  notes,  p.  1. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY. 


5 


calculated  to  throw  around  it.  He  admits,  I think  with  great  justice,  that  Antonio 
de  Leon  y Gama  “ has  achieved  the  first  and  only  rigorously  archaeological  investi- 
gation in  his  country  ;’n  and  he  very  properly  adds,  in  regard  to  these  mythic 
periods,  that  “ historical  criticism,  notwithstanding  the  quantity  written  on  the 
subject,  is  probably  the  most  difficult  and  least  advanced  portion  of  Mexican  litera- 
ture ; for,  while  some  of  our  writers  incur  imminent  risk  from  excessive  credulity, 
others  are  governed  by  a scepticism  which  is  radically  destructive  of  all  scientific 
investigation.  A history  may  be  true  and  highly  instructive,  though  it  contains 
the  most  incredible  absurdities ; for  while  it  states  what  may  he  absolutely  false, 
either  through  invention  or  insufficient  proof,  it  may  faithfully  transmit  the  tradi- 
tions, beliefs , and  customs  of  the  people  it  describes.  * * * * Mexican  history, 

like  that  of  all  nations,  is  made  up  of  two  classes  of  narratives ; the  usages,  customs, 
and  ruling  beliefs  which  present  the  type  of  the  people,  and  of  the  public  and  private 
life  of  its  eminent  men,  together  with  facts  which  concern  the  mass  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  constitute  the  very  life  and  essence  of  a people.”1 2 

Thus,  it  may  he  said  that  the  deciphered  picture  writings  found  among  the 
Mexicans  by  the  Spaniards,  together  with  the  traditions  recorded  by  Ixtlilxochitl, 
Sahagun,  and  others,  will,  in  all  likelihood,  be  found  to  present  a typical  idea  of  the 
individual,  tribal,  and  national  character.  Some  great  historical  facts  may  stand 
out  in  bold  relief ; some  persons,  and  certain  biographical  incidents  may  appear  in 
shadowy  outline  through  the  veil  of  the  past;  but  the  whole  antiquity,  blurred  by 
dilapidation,  looms  up  dimly,  like  a noble  ruin  in  the  gloom  of  twilight. 


1 Gama’s  “ Description  liistorica  y chronologica  de  las  dos  piedras  descubiertas  en  la  plaza  principal 
de  esta  ciudad.”  Mexico,  1832.  2d  edition. 

2 Ramirez;  Notes  to  the  Spanish  translation  of  Prescott’s  Concj.  Mex.,  II,  p.  8 (of  notes). 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  letters  of  Cortez  to  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  and  the  writings  of  Bernal  Diaz 
del  Castillo,  Sahagun,  Torquemada,  Las  Casas,  Oviedo,  Boturini,  Yeytia,  and 
Clavigero,  digested  as  they  have  been  in  the  valuable  work  of  Mr.  Prescott,  display 
a picture  of  the  Aztec  people  as  they  existed  at  the  period  of  European  occupation. 
We  are  informed,  no  doubt  accurately,  as  to  much  of  the  religion,  laws,  science, 
and  social  life  of  the  conquered.  The  Spanish  exaggerations  were  thoroughly 
examined,  and  the  essential,  characteristic  facts  have  been  preserved  for  our 
acceptance. 

The  ancient  history  of  the  foundation  of  the  Aztec  empire,  stripped  of  most  of 
its  myths,  may  be  comprised  in  a few  paragraphs. 

At  the  period  of  the  conquest  by  Cortez,  the  Yale  of  Anahuac,  with  its  assem- 
blage of  lakes,  levels,  and  mountains,  seems  to  have  been  the  conceded  seat  and 
centre  of  greatest  civilization  on  the  northern  continent.  Yucatan  and  the 
territory  of  the  Zapotecs  were  doubtless  inhabited  by  a refined  people;  but  they 
were  probably  subordinate  to  the  Aztecs  by  conquest.  The  received  traditions 
as  to  the  Yale  of  Anahuac  declare  that  the  original  inhabitants  came  from  some 
unknown  place  “at  the  north,”  and,  in  the  fifth  or  eighth  century,  settled  at  Tollan 
or  Tula,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Mexican  Yalley.  This  spot  became  the  parent 
hive  of  an  industrious  and  progressive  people,  whose  northern  frames  and  charac- 
ters were  civilized  and  not  emasculated  by  the  more  genial  climate  to  which  they 
migrated.  They  cultivated  the  soil,  built  extensive  cities,  conquered  their  neigh- 
bors, and,  after  performing  their  allotted  task  in  the  development  of  our  continent, 
wasted  away  in  the  tenth  or  eleventh  century,  under  the  desolation  of  famine  and 
unsuccessful  wars.  The  Toltec  remnant  emigrated  southward ; and,  during  the 
next  hundred  years,  the  valleys  and  mountains  of  this  beautiful  region  were  nearly 
abandoned,  until  a rude  tribe,  known  as  the  Chichimecas,  came  “ from  the  north,” 
and  settled  among  the  ruins  abandoned  by  the  Toltecs.  Some  years  afterwards, 
six  tribes  of  the  Nahuatlacs  reached  the  valley,  announcing  the  approach  of  another 
band  “ from  the  north,”  known  as  the  Aztecs.  About  this  period,  the  Acolhuans, 
who  bordered  on  the  Chichimecas  before  their  southward  emigration,  entered  the 
Yalley  of  Anahuac,  and  allied  themselves  with  their  ancient  neighbors.  These 
tribes  appear  to  have  been  the  founders  of  the  Tezcocan  government,  which,  in  the 
fifteenth  century  was  consolidated  by  the  courage  and  talents  of  Nezahualcoyotl. 

Thus  it  was  that  wave  after  wave  of  population  poured  “ from  the  north ” into 
the  valley,  till  it  was  reached  by  the  Aztecs,  who,  about  the  year  11G0,  left  their 
mysterious  and  unknown  “northern”  site  at  Aztlan.  Their  wanderings  were 
slow.  Tt  is  alleged  that  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  years  elapsed  before  they 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


7 


descried  “ an  eagle  grasping  in  liis  claw  a writhing  serpent,  and  resting  oil  a cactus 
which  sprang  from  a rock  in  the  Lake  of  Tezcoco.  This  had  been  designated 
by  the  Aztec  oracles  as  the  spot  where  the  tribe  should  settle,  after  its  long  and 
weary  migration;  and,  accordingly,  the  city  of  Tenoclititlan  was  founded  on  the 
sacred  rock,  and,  like  another  Venice,  rose  from  the  bosom  of  the  placid  waters. 

“ It  was  nearly  a hundred  years  after  the  founding  of  the  city,  and  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fifteenth  century,  that  the  Tepanecs  attacked  the  Tezcocan  monarchy. 
The  Tezcocans  and  the  Aztecs  united  to  put  down  the  spoiler,  and,  as  a recompense 
for  the  important  services  of  the  allies,  the  supreme  dominion  of  the  territory  of 
the  Tezcocans  was  transferred  to  the  Aztecs.  The  Tezcocan  sovereigns  thus  became, 
in  a measure,  mediatized  princes  of  the  Mexican  throne ; and  the  two  states,  together 
with  the  neighboring  small  state  of  Tlacopan,  south  of  Lake  Chaleo,  formed  an 
offensive  and  defensive  league,  which  was  sustained  with  unwavering  fidelity  through- 
out the  wars  of  the  succeeding  century.  The  bold  allies  united  in  the  spirit  of 
conquest  and  plunder  which  characterizes  a rude,  martial  people,  as  soon  as  they 
are  surrounded  by  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  in  their  own  country,  or 
whenever  the  increase  of  population  begins  to  require  a vent  through  which  it  may 
expend  those  energies  which  would  explode  in  civil  war,  if  pent  up  within  so  small 
a realm  as  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  Accordingly,  we  find  that  the  sway  of  these 
tribes,  which  had  but  just  nestled  among  the  rocks  and  marshes  of  the  lakes,  was 
quickly  spread  beyond  the  mountains  that  hemmed  in  the  valley.  The  Aztec  arms 
were  triumphant  throughout  all  the  plains  that  swept  down  towards  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific,  and  penetrated,  as  is  alleged  by  some  authorities,  even  to  Guatemala 
and  Nicaragua.”1 

Large,  however,  as  was  this  dominion  of  the  Aztecs  and  their  allies,  it  must  be 
recollected  that  their  territorial  power  did  not  cover  the  entire  region  which  was 
known  subsequently  as  New  Spain  or  Mexico.  In  addition  to  the  tribes  or  states 
I have  mentioned  in  this  notice,  as  constituting  the  nucleus  of  the  empire  at  the 
period  of  the  conquest,  there  were  numerous  other  aboriginal  powers,  among  which 
the  Cholulans  and  Tlascalans  were  the  most  eminent.  Besides  these,  there  were, 
on  territory  now  comprehended  within  the  Mexican  Republic,  the  Tarascos,  who 
inhabited  Michoacan,  an  independent  sovereignty;  the  barbarous  Ottomies;  the 
Olmecs;  the  Xilancas;  the  Mistecas;  and  the  Zapotecs.  The  Aztec  arms  had 
recently  subdued  the  region  of  Oajaca,  and  the  last-named  tribe,  with  all  its  civil- 
ization, had  submitted  to  Ahuitzotl.2 

There  was  something,  doubtless,  in  the  geographical  position  and  geological 
structure  of  this  remarkable  region,  that  assisted  in  making  it  the  seat  of  empire. 
History  shows  that  colonial  offshoots  are  modified  by  climatic  change.  The  great 


1 Mexico : Aztec,  Spanish,  and  Republican,  I,  96. 

2 As  an  illustration  of  the  uncertainty  of  the  early  aboriginal  history  of  Mexican  tribes  and  nations, 
and  especially  of  their  chronology,  I annex  the  following  tables  of  their  emigrations  from  the  north, 
and  of  the  duration  of  the  reigns  of  Mexican  sovereigns.  They  were  compiled  by  Mr.  Gallatin  from  a 
comparison  of  Ixtlilxochitl,  Sahagun,  Yeytia,  Clavigero,  the  Mendoza  collection  of  ancient  picture 
writings,  the  Codex  Tellurianus,  and  Acosta,  and  inserted  in  the  1st  vol.  of  our  Ethnological  Society’s 
Transactions,  p.  162.  The  tables  will  be  found  on  the  next  page. 


8 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


features  of  Mexico  are  the  same  now  that  they  were  in  the  tenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries.  The  waters  of  the  Atlantic,  sweeping  along  the  central  parts  of  our 
continent,  and  compressed  within  the  gulf  by  the  curving  shores  of  Florida  and 


Ixtlilxocliitl. 

Sahagun. 

Veytia. 

Clavigero. 

Toltec  Emigration,  &c. 

Arrived  at  Huehuetlalpallan  ........ 

Departed  from  Huehuetlalpallan  ....... 

They  found  Tula 

387 

596 

544 

498 

713 

720 

Monarchy  begins  .......... 

510 

667 

Monarchy  ends  .......... 

959 

1116 

1051 

Chichimeoas  and  Acolhuans  or  Tezcocans. 

Xolotl,  1st  king,  occupies  the  valley  of  Mexico  .... 

963 

1120 

about  1170 

Napoltzin,  2d  king,  ascends  the  throne  ...... 

1075 

1232 

13  cen. 

Tlotzin1 } kinS>  so  called  erroneously,  ascends  the  throne  . 

1107 

1263 

14  cen. 

Quinantzin,  4th  king,  ascends  the  throne  ..... 

Tlaltecatzin,  1st  king  according  to  Sahagun,  ascends  the  throne 

1141 

1246 

1298 

14  cen. 

Techotlalatzin  5th  (2d  Sahagun)  ascends  the  throne 

1253 

1271 

1357 

14  cen. 

Ixtlilxochitl  6th  (3d  Sahagun)  ascends  the  throne  .... 

1357 

1331 

1409 

1406 

Netzahual-Coyotzin  7th  (4th,  Sahagun)  ascends  the  throne 

1418 

1392 

1418 

1426 

Netzahual-Pilzintli  8th  (5th,  Sahagun)  ascends  the  throne 

1462 

1463 

1470 

Netzahual-Pilzintli  dies  ......... 

1515 

1516 

1516 

Tepanecs,  or  Tecpanecs  op  Acapulco. 

Acolhua  arrives  .......... 

1011 

1158 

Acolhua,  2d  son  of  Acolhua  1st,  arrives  ..... 

Tezozomac,  son  according  to  D’Alva,  grandson  according  to  Veytia, 

1239 

of  the  1st  Acolhua,  arrives  ....... 

1299 

1348 

1343 

Maxtlan,  son  of  Tezozomac,  arrives 

1427 

1427 

1422 

Mexican  or  Aztec  Emigration. 

Mexicans  leave  Aztlan  ......... 

1064 

1160 

“ arrive  at  Huelcolhuacan 

1168 

“ “ at  Chicomotzoc  ....... 

1168 

“ “ at  valley  of  Mexico 

llil 

1227 

1216 

“ “ at  Chapultepec  . 

f 1248 
\ 1276 

1245 

Mendoza’s 

Collection. 

Codex  Tel- 
lurianus. 

Acosta. 

Signenza. 

Ixtlilxo- 

chitl. 

Sahagun. 

Veytia. 

Clavigero. 

Mexican  or  Aztec  Power. 
Foundation  of  Mexico  or  Tenochtitlan 

1324 

1325 

1220 

1325 

1325 

Acamapichtli,  elected  king 

1375 

1399 

1384 

1361 

1141 

1384 

1361 

1352 

Huitzilihuitl,  accession 

1396 

1406 

1424 

1403 

1353 

1402 

1389 

Chimalpopoca  ..... 

1417 

1414 

1427 

1414 

1357 

1414 

1409 

Ytzcoatl  ...... 

1427 

1426 

1437 

1427 

1427 

1427 

1423 

Montezuma  1st  ..... 

1440 

1440 

1449 

1440 

1440 

1436 

Acayacatl  ..... 

1469 

1469 

1481 

1468 

1469 

1464 

Tizoc  ...... 

1482 

1483 

1487 

1481 

1483 

1477 

Ahuitzol 

1486 

1486 

1492 

1486 

1486 

1482 

Montezuma  2d 

1502 

1502 

1503 

1502 

1503 

1502 

Duration  of  reigns  of  Mexican  Kings. 

Acamapichtli  ..... 

21 

7 

40 

42 

150 

21 

41 

37 

Huitzilihuitl  ..... 

21 

8 

3 

11 

50 

21 

12 

20 

Chimalpopoca  ..... 

10 

12 

10 

13 

70 

10 

13 

14 

Ytzcoatl  ...... 

13 

14 

12 

13 

13 

14 

13 

Montezuma  1st  ..... 

29 

29 

32 

28 

29 

30 

28 

Acayacatl  ..... 

13 

14 

6 

13 

14 

14 

13 

Tizoc  ...... 

4 

3 

5 

5 

3 

4 

5 

Ahuitzol  ...... 

16 

16 

11 

16 

17 

8 

16 

Montezuma  2d 

17 

17 

16 

17 

17 

19 

17 

The  discrepancies  between  these  authorities,  amounting,  in  many  cases,  not  only  to  years  but  cen- 
turies, show  the  extremely  unreliable  and  mythic  character  of  the  records  and  traditions  of  the  ante- 
Columbian  period. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


9 


Yucatan,  whirl  the  shifting  bed  of  the  sea  in  continual  eddies  at  the  mouths  of  the 
few  rivers  that  pour  into  it,  and  create  the  formidable  bars  and  shoals  which  make 
the  eastern  coast  so  dangerous  an  anchorage.  But  on  the  west,  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific  are  favored  with  tranquil  and  commodious  havens,  while  numerous  indenta- 
tions break  the  rugged  outline  of  the  coast  with  landlocked  bays. 

The  voyager  may  sail  from  the  extreme  eastern  shores  of  our  continent  to  the 
very  centre  of  the  Mexican  Gulf-coast,  along  a low  sandy  beach,  visible  only  at  a 
short  distance  from  the  sea;  but  as  he  advances  to  that  point,  the  snowy  peak  of 
Orizaba,  towering  seventeen  thousand  feet  above  the  ocean,  looms  up  in  the  distance 
like  an  outpost  sentinel  of  Mexico,  indicating  his  approach  to  the  dividing  ridge  of 
lofty  mountains.  The  vast  Cordillera  which  rises  near  the  Frozen  Sea,  descends 
southward  in  a series  of  mighty  waves  through  the  whole  of  this  continent,  until 
it  is  lost  in  the  ocean  at  Cape  Horn ; while  at  the  Isthmus  which  links  the  great 
body  of  North  to  South  America,  it  parts  the  two  seas  that  strive  to  meet  across 
this  narrowest  portion  of  the  Western  World.  Between  the  lGth  and  33d  degrees 
of  north  latitude,  this  mountain  range  sends  forth  a multitude  of  spurs  and 
branches,  and,  within  that  confined  space,  piled  on  a massive  base  of  sierras, 
rising  from  the  Atlantic  till  they  reach  the  height  of  nearly  eighteen  thousand  feet, 
and  thence  plunging  westward  into  the  Pacific,  is  the  territory  of  Mexico,  hung 
upon  these  sloping  cliffs,  and  resting  among  the  sheltered  recesses  of  their  upland 
valleys. 

Two  important  rivers  may  be  said  to  form  the  natural  northern  boundary  of  this 
region.  The  snow  that  melts  on  the  Sierra  Nevada,  descends,  one-half  to  feed  the 
fountains  of  the  Rio  Grande,  which  winds  through  an  immense  extent  of  country 
before  it  falls  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — and  one-half  to  swell  the  Colorado  of  Cali- 
fornia, before  it  reaches  the  Pacific  through  the  Sea  of  Cortez.  The  sources  of  these 
two  streams  nearly  meet  at  the  same  mountain,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  fortieth 
degree ; but  the  configuration  of  the  earth  essentially  varies  between  the  northern 
and  southern  sides  of  these  rivers.  From  their  northern  banks  the  land  recedes  in 
comparative  levels,  interspersed  with  arid  wastes  and  prairies,  sloping  gradually  to 
the  Pacific  and  Atlantic;  while  from  their  southern  banks  the  country  almost 
directly  breaks  into  the  steeps  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  whose  multiplied  veins  enlace 
the  whole  of  Mexico  with  a massive  network.  Uncertain  streams — none  of  which 
are  navigable,  and  all  dependent  on  rain  for  their  floods — pour  down  the  pre- 
cipitous defiles,  on  their  way  to  the  seas.  As  the  centre  of  this  territory  is  ap- 
proached, the  naked  Cordilleras  become  loftier  and  loftier,  as  if  to  guard,  with  double 
security,  the  heart  of  the  nation;  while,  in  the  midst  of  this  sublime  congregation 
of  mountains,  rise  still  more  majestic  peaks  crowned  with  eternal  snow,  presiding 
over  the  beautiful  valley  of  Anahuac,  wherein  the  ancient  Aztec  capital  nestled 
on  the  border  of  its  crystal  lake.  Flanked  by  two  oceans,  and  rising  from  both  to 
the  rich  plateaus  of  the  table-land,  Mexico  possesses,  on  both  acclivities,  all  the 
temperatures  of  the  world,  and  ranges  from  the  orange  and  plantain  on  the  sea- 
shore, to  eternal  ice  on  the  precipices  that  overhang  the  higher  valleys.  Change 
of  climate  is  attained  merely  by  ascending,  and,  in  a region  where  the  country  rises 
steeply,  the  broad-leaved  aloe  and  feathery  palm  may  be  seen  relieved  against  the 
2 


10 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


everlasting  snow  of  Popocateptl.  All  these  delightful  climates  produce  the  fruits 
and  flowers  of  the  tropics  on  the  same  parallel  of  latitude  that  crosses  continual 
frost,  while,  over  all,  a never  ending  spring  bends  its  cloudless  arch.  Nor  are 
these  the  only  allurements  of  this  wonderful  land,  for  nature,  as  if  unsatisfied  with 
pampering  the  tastes  of  man  by  crowding  the  surface  of  the  earth  with  everything 
that  might  please  his  appetite  or  delight  his  eye,  has  veined  its  sterile  mountains 
with  precious  ores  in  exhaustless  quantity. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  hardy  races  from  the  northern  hive , where  vigor  is  gained 
from  toil  and  where  toil  wrests  existence  from  an  ungenerous  soil,  abandoned  their 
savage  habits  and  were  subdued  into  a masculine  civilization  by  a country  and 
climate  like  these.  It  was  a tropical  Switzerland.  Such  a people,  by  migration, 
may  lose  nothing  of  their  energy  except  its  barbarism,  and  gain  nothing  from  the- 
softer  skies  but  their  genial  blandness. 


CHAPTER  III. 


It  is  conceded  that,  at  the  period  of  the  first  European  occupation,  all  parts  of 
North  and  South  America  were  peopled ; and  Dr.  Morton,  in  his  elaborate  “ In- 
quiry into  the  Distinctive  Characteristics  of  the  Aboriginal  Race  of  America,”1  says, 
“ That  the  study  of  physical  conformation  alone,  excludes  every  branch  of  the 
Caucasian  race  from  any  obvious  participation  in  the  peopling  of  this  continent.” 
* * * * “Our  conclusion,”  he  continues,  “long  ago  deduced  from  a 

patient  examination  of  the  facts  thus  briefly  and  inadequately  stated,  is  that  the 
American  race  is  essentially  separate  and  peculiar,  whether  we  regard  it  in  its 
physical,  its  moral,  or  its  intellectual  relations.  * * * * I maintain  that  the 

organic  characters  of  the  people  themselves,  through  all  the  endless  ramifications 
of  tribes  or  nations,  prove  them  to  belong  to  one  and  the  same  race,  and  that  this 
race  is  distinct  from  all  others.” 

Without  stopping  to  discuss  Dr.  Morton’s  opinion,  let  us  now  consider  the  general 
characteristics  of  the  remains  still  visible  on  this  continent,  and  especially  of  the 
architectural  antiquities  of  Mexico. 

“Architecture  is  one  of  those  massive  records,  either  of  intelligence  or  absurdity, 
which  require  too  much  labor  in  order  to  perpetuate  a falsehood.  It  shows  what 
the  men  could  do,  be  it  good  or  bad,  elegant  or  hideous,  civilized  or  barbaric. 
The  men  who  built  the  edifices  of  Uxmal,  Palenque,  Copan,  and  Chichen-Itza, 
were  far  removed  from  the  condition  of  nomadic  tribes.  Taste  and  luxury  had 
long  been  grafted  on  the  mere  wants  of  the  natives.  They  had  learned  to  build, 
not  only  for  protection  against  weather,  but  for  permanent  residences  whose 
internal  arrangements  afforded  comfort,  and  whose  external  embellishment  might 
gratify  public  taste.  Order,  symmetry,  elegance,  beauty  of  ornament,  gracefulness 
of  symbolic  imagery,  had  all  combined  for  the  manifestations  which  are  always 
beheld  among  people  who  are  not  only  anxious  to  gratify  others  as  well  as  them- 
selves, but  to  vie  with  each  other  in  the  exhibition  of  -individual  tastes.  Here, 
however,  as  in  Egypt,  the  remains  are  chiefly  of  temples,  palaces,  and  tombs.  The 
worship  of  God,  the  safety  of  the  body  after  death,  and  obedience  to  authority,  are 
demonstrated  by  the  temple,  tomb,  and  rock-built  palace.  The  masses  who  felt  or 
imagined  they  had  no  constant  abiding  place  on  earth,  and  that  posterity  had  little 
interest  in  them  as  individuals,  did  not,  in  all  likelihood,  build  those  numerous  and 
comfortable  dwellings,  under  whose  influence  modern  civilization  has  so  far  sur- 
passed the  barren  humanism  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile.”2 


1 Pp.  35,  36,  2d  edition,  Philadelphia,  1844. 

2 Mexico;  Aztec,  Spanish,  and  Republican,  Vol.  I. 


12 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


“ If  the  far-off  past  has  not  always  been  able  to  write  its  name,  it  has  left  its 
mark,”  says  Robert  Cary  Long,  in  his  ingenious  discourse  on  the  ancient  architecture 
of  America,  delivered  before  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  in  1849.1  “ Its  stony 
autographs  loom  out  largely  from  the  page  of  time.  Egypt  has  piled  hers  in 
Pyramids;  India  has  quaintly  carved  hers  in  the  Rocks  of  Ellora;  Greece  has 
delicately  shaped  hers,  in  a form  of  ever  living  beauty,  upon  the  Acropolis ; Rome 
has  rounded  hers  in  magnificent  proportions  in  the  dome  of  the  Pantheon;  and 
the  Middle  Ages  have  4 illuminated’  their  signature  with  those  heaven-reaching 
coruscations,  the  Gothic  cathedrals.”  * * * * “ In  the  monuments  of  the  past 

we  have  the  human  deposit  of  the  ages — the  truth  of  the  historical  past.  Architec- 
ture, in  this  view,  is  the  geology  of  humanity.  Ceasing  its  testimony  at  the  present 
surface  of  the  globe,  geology  tells  nothing  of  that  subsequent  history  which  com- 
mences with  the  existence  of  men.  Here,  architecture  resumes  the  thread  of  the 
narrative,  and  bears  witness  of  that  compound  existence  to  which  it  owes  its  origin. 
* * * * * That  consecutiveness  which  is  dimly  descried  in  documents, 

in  architecture  is  apparent ; that  human  progress,  in  which  all  believe,  but  which 
so  few  show  forth  distinctly,  is  beautifully  narrated  in  the  monumental  series.” 

In  the  absence  of  unquestionable  historic  and  recorded  evidence,  I have  always 
considered  architectural  forms , disclosed  in  the  remains  of  antiquity,  as  the  most 
valuable  hints  for  detecting  the  relative  stages  of  the  human  family  in  the  process 
of  civilization.  Craniology  and  osteologic  science  may  show  the  relative  capacity 
of  races  for  civilization,  but  they  do  not  demonstrate  the  degree  attained ; while 
the  Druidical  Stonehenge,  the  Indian  mound,  the  Egyptian  tomb  and  palace,  the 
Greek  temple,  and  the  Roman  Coliseum,  are  types  of  the  progressive  intellectual 
grades  of  their  respective  builders. 

It  is  true  that,  where  there  are  intertribal  or  international  communications 
between  people,  the  arts  of  the  most  advanced  may  be  adopted  by  those  who  are 
in  the  rear ; but  it  is  dangerous,  and  I think  unscientific,  to  start  with  the  theory 
that  resemblances,  or  even  identities,  in  any  of  the  arts,  indicate  either  international 
connection  or  imitation.  The  basis  of  all  action  is  the  mind,  and  we  know  that  it 
originates  similar  inventions, — according  to  individual  capacity, — throughout  the 
most  widely  separated  conditions  of  the  human  family. 

“ Analogies  of  this  kind,”  says  Baron  Humboldt,  in  his  Voyage  Pittoresque, 
“ prove  very  little  in  favor  of  the  ancient  intercommunication  between  people,  for, 
under  all  the  zones,  men  have  indulged  in  a rhythmic  repetition  of  the  same  forms.” 

To  understand  the  force  of  this  and  its  sensible  value,  let  us  recur  to  the  simple 
and  natural  process  in  the  law  of  inventive  progress.  A hunter  or  shepherd  will 
content  himself  by  leaning  the  branches  of  trees  against  each  other  to  shield  him- 
self from  sun  or  rain  in  his  temporary  bivouac,  and,  hence  the  first  form  is  that  of 

the  tent : . If  he  is  a wanderer,  and  inhabits,  at  times,  the  plains  as  well 

as  the  forest,  he  will  construct  a permanent  and  portable  covering  of  skins  and  poles, 


1 Long’s  Ancient  Architecture  of  America,  pp.  5 and  6. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARC  IDEOLOGY. 


13 


so  as  to  constitute  the  Indian  lodge,  which  preserves  the  same  shape  as  the  tent. 
As  he  becomes  less  nomadic,  begins  to  possess  property,  family,  flocks,  and  herds, 
and  requires  more  covered  space  for  protection  as  well  as  comfort,  he  discovers  that 
a square  affords  more  commodious  room  than  an  angle,  and  his  edifice  assumes  a 
new  shape  by  the  use  of  several  of  his  simple  architectural  elements,  instead  of  two. 
Accordingly,  he  plants  his  stouter  timbers  upright  in  the  ground,  and  lays  across 


them  a covering  of  branches  and  leaves,  so  as  to  form  a square : 


But 


this,  in  the  course  of  time,  admits  of  improvement — especially  as  the  flat  covering 
is  not  as  sure  a protection  against  rain  as  his  original  tent;  and,  accordingly,  on 
the  last  of  his  inventions  he  elevates  the  first,  so  as  to  preserve  his  space  and  insure 


additional  comfort: 


Perhaps,  instead  of  forming  his  tent  by  simple 


boughs  or  poles,  lodged  against  each  other,  he  has  contented  himself  with  bending 
the  saplings  together,  and  thus  produces  the  elemental  shapes  of  the  Roman  and 


Gothic  arches : 


As  wandering  families  unite  in  tribes,  and 


tribes  grow  into  communities,  and  communities  associate  in  municipalities  or 
nations,  their  most  skilful  builders  discover  that  mechanical  genius  has  no  more 
elements  for  architectural  progress  in  forms  than  a straight  line  and  a curve ; so 
that  all  invention  is  limited,  by  an  irreversible  law,  to  their  wise  and  tasteful 
combination. 


Is  it  hazarding  too  much,  then,  to  assert  that,  in  early  stages  of  civilization,  we 
must  naturally  expect  to  see  much  of  the  type  of  national  status  in  architectural 
combinations  of  the  mound  and  pyramid? 


Again ; is  it  venturing  too  far  to  suggest  that,  when  people  emerge  from  early 
stages  of  civilization,  and  rise  to  vigorous,  masculine,  and  refined  nationality,  they 
abandon  the  propped  weakness  of  leaning  pyramidal  shapes,  and  seek  the  massive, 
self-sustaining  independence  of  upright,  perpendicular  forms?1 


1 These  are  general  suggestions  upon  the  world’s  progress  in  mechanics  and  taste,  and  altogether 
independent  of  art  as  controlled  by  climatic  or  geological  necessities.  A perfectly  flat  roof  in  Switzer- 
land would  cave  in  under  accumulated  snows,  and  an  unsupported  edifice  in  a volcanic  region  would  be 
destroyed  wherever  earthquakes  were  frequent  and  violent. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  aborigines  of  our  country  at  the  period  of  the  Discovery,  or  their  ancestors, 
were  all  more  or  less  engaged  in  building  for  defence  or  worship.  The  elaborate 
works  of  Squier,  Davis,  Whittlesey,  and  Lapham,  published  by  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  have  described,  perhaps  everything  of  value  among  the  Indian  remains 
within  our  territory.1 

These  aboriginal  relics — chiefly  earthworks — may  be  comprised  in  two  classes: 
simple  Mounds,  and  Enclosures  bounded  by  parapets  and  circumvallations  or  walls. 
The  mounds  are  asserted  to  have  been  places  of  sepulture,  sacrifice,  and  worship, 
or  sometimes  devoted  to  various  mixed  uses ; while  the  enclosures  were  intended 
either  for  defence,  or  for  sacred  or  superstitious  purposes.  The  rude  pyramidal 
mounds  were  frequently  of  great  and  massive  dimensions,  while  the  bird  and  beast 
shapes  of  their  ground  plans,  in  Wisconsin,  as  described  in  the  work  of  Mr.  Lapham, 
are  as  singular  as  they  are  inexplicable.2 

The  mound,  or  heap-shape — derived,  perhaps  originally,  from  the  earth  that  was 
piled  over  a body  in  burial — seems  to  have  been  the  most  common  throughout  our 
entire  territory  as  far  as  the  northern  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Rio 
Grande.  It  indicates  the  early  condition  of  art  or  the  unprogressive  character  of 
the  builders,  who  either  disappeared  from  the  land,  degenerated  into  the  modern 
Indian,  or  passed  southward  to  become  the  progenitors  of  semi-civilization  in  more 
genial  regions. 

In  the  mounds  have  been  found  ornaments,  carvings,  pipes,  skeletons,  shells, 
spear  and  arrow-heads,  hornstone  knives,  axes,  copper  chisels  and  gravers,  silver, 
galena,  and  various  utensils  of  pottery ; but  all  the  forms  of  these  implements,  and 
especially  those  of  the  domestic  vessels  and  images,  indicate  a rude  state  of  art, 
taste,  invention,  and  wants.  No  discoveries  have  yet  been  made  to  show  that  the 
mound-builders  communicated  or  preserved  facts  by  permanent  records  or  monu- 
ments ; and  their  nearest  approach  to  printing  is  a figured  stamp,  found,  some  years 
since,  in  a mound  at  Cincinnati,  which  resembles  the  stamps  I have  seen  in  Mexico, 
used  by  the  ancient  people  of  that  region,  either  to  impress  marks  upon  paper  or 
patterns  on  their  stulfs.3 


1 See  Squier’s  Paper  in  the  2d  Yol.  Trans.  Am.  Eth.  Soc.,  pp.  136,  131,  138,  and  his  Ancient  Mon. 
Yall.  Miss.,  and  of  N.  York,  &c.  &c. ; Whittlesey’s  Descrip,  of  Ancient  Works  in  Ohio;  Lapham’s 
Antiq.  of  Wisconsin. 

2 See  Lapham’s  Antiquities  of  Wisconsin  in  the  Smithsonian  Contributions. 

8 This  stamp,  of  which  I possess  a cast,  is  very  accurately  represented  in  Squier  and  Davis’s  Ancient 
Mon.  Yal.  Mississippi,  p.  215.  The  inscribed  stones  and  rocks  that  have  been  found  are  very  apocryphal 
as  to  period  and  purpose ; nor  are  they  numerous  enough  to  indicate  an  ancient  system. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY. 


15 


Quitting  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  penetrating  the  old  northern 
territories  of  New  Spain,  we  find,  for  the  first  time  in  our  southern  progress,  the 
remains  which  have  become  so  generally  known  in  Spanish,  as  the  “Casas  Grandes,” 
or  Large  Houses ; all  of  which  are  probably  ruins  of  villages  and  towns  occupied 
by  the  aboriginal  tribes  described  by  Castaneda,  in  the  expedition  of  Francisco 
Vasquez  de  Coronado,  in  1541,  in  search  of  the  rich  cities  which  had  been  reported 
to  exist  in  those  northern  regions.  The  accounts  of  Castaneda  and  of  modern 
travellers,  coincide  as  to  the  character  of  architecture,  ground-plans,  and  general 
purposes  of  the  remains ; and  it  is  here  that  we  see  perpendicular  walls,  another 
evidence  of  an  improved  degree  of  civilization.  The  houses  were  not  built  of  stones, 
but  of  adobes,  or  sun-dried  bricks ; and,  as  the  natives  had  no  lime,  they  substituted 
for  it  a mixture  of  earth,  coals,  and  ashes.  Some  of  these  houses  were  four  stories 
high,  while  their  interiors  were  reached  by  ladders  from  the  outside,  so  as  to  render 
the  external,  doorless  walls,  protections  against  enemies  in  the  wars  which  seem  to 
have  been  almost  constantly  occurring.  The  village  of  Acuco,  described  by  the 
Spanish  writers  as  lying  between  Cibola  and  Tiguex,  was  built  on  top  of  a perpen- 
dicular rock,  which  could  only  be  ascended  by  three  hundred  steep  steps  cut  in  the 
stone,  and  clambering  eighteen  feet  more  by  the  aid  of  simple  holes  or  grooves  in 
the  precipice.  The  tribes  are  spoken  of  as  agricultural  and  warlike,  nor  does  it 
seem  that  they  had  advanced  further  in  social  progress  than  by  constructions  for 
defence  and  comfort,  of  a superior  character  to  those  of  the  tribes  beyond  the  waters 
of  the  Rio  Grande.  The  fact  is  established,  by  Coronado’s  expedition,  says  Mr. 
Gallatin,  that  “ at  the  time  of  the  conquest  by  Cortez,  there  was,  northwardly,  at 
the  distance  of  eight  hundred  or  one  thousand  miles  from  the  city  of  Mexico,  a 
collection  of  Indian  tribes  in  a state  of  semi-civilization,  intermediary  between  that 
of  the  Mexicans  and  the  social  state  of  any  other  aborigines.”1 

Moving  southward,  we  enter  the  present  actual  territory  of  the  Mexican  Repub- 
lic, and  encounter  the  first  remarkable  architectural  remains  of  antiquity  in  the 
State  of  Zacatecas,  on  an  eminence  called  the  “ Cerro  de  los  Edificios,”  or  Hill  of 
the  Buildings,  situated  about  twelve  leagues  southwest  from  the  city  of  Zacatecas, 
about  one  league  north  of  La  Quemada,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  22  z°  north  lati- 
tude, at  an  elevation  of  7,406  feet  above  the  sea.  Clavigero  speaks  of  Chico-mozoc, 
or  Chico-comoc,  a sojourning  place  of  the  Aztecs  in  their  southward  emigration, 
and  inclines  to  the  belief  that  these  remains  are  the  relics  of  their  provisional  archi- 
tecture. A very  full  account  of  the  ruins  is  given  in  Captain  Lyons’s  travels  in 
Mexico,  and  another  in  Nebel’s  “Voyage  Pittoresque  et  Arch  mol  ogique,”  in  which  the 
walls,  squares,  pyramids,  terraces,  roads,  pavements,  &c.,  are  described  and  partially 
delineated.  The  site  of  the  remains  seems  to  have  been  the  citadel,  fortress,  or 
defensive  portion  of  a settlement  which  was  spread  out  extensively  over  the  adja- 
cent plain.  The  northern  side  of  the  hill  rises  by  an  easy  slope  from  the  plain, 
and  is  guarded  by  a double  wall  and  a kind  of  bastion ; while  on  the  other  sides, 


1 See  Castaneda,  Yoyage  h Cibola,  Paris,  1838.  Am.  Eth.  Soc.  Trans.,  Yol.  II,  p.  lxxxiii  of  intro- 
duction. Mr.  Gallatin  of  course  means  the  “social  state  of  any  other”  northern  “aborigines.”  See, 
also,  Mr.  “Bartlett’s  Personal  Narrative,”  in  relation  to  the  North  Mexican  remains. 


16 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCILEOLOGY. 


the  precipitous  rocks  of  the  hill  itself  form  natural  defences.  The  whole  elevation 
is  covered  with  fragments ; the  rock-built  walls  (many  of  which  are  twenty-two  feet 
in  thickness)  are  sometimes  joined  by  mortar  of  no  great  tenacity,  but  are  retained 
in  their  positions  mainly  by  their  massiveness.1 

If  we  leave  these  loftier  regions  of  the  table-lands  of  Mexico,  and  descend 
towards  the  eastern  coast  of  Mexico,  through  the  State  of  San  Louis  Potosi,  we 
find  the.  architectural  remains,  sculpture,  &c.,  visited  by  Mr.  Norman,  in  1844.2  The 
relics  discovered  by  this  intelligent  traveller  were  of  mounds,  pyramids,  edifices, 
tombs,  images,  fragments  of  obsidian  knives  or  arrows,  and  pottery.  Hewn  blocks 
of  concrete  sandstone  were,  in  many  instances,  the  materials  used  for  building ; and, 
besides  the  images  of  clay,  he  found  others  rudely  cut  in  stone  in  bold  relief.  The 
most  significant  of  these  remains,  as  well  as  the  most  extensive  evidences  of  civic 
civilization,  were  placed,  by  Mr.  Norman,  at  about  22°  9'  of  north  latitude,  and  98° 
31'  of  west  longitude. 

The  State  of  V era  Cruz,  in  Mexico,  adjoins  Tamaulipas  on  the  south,  and  here, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Panuco,  an  old  town  of  the  Huestecos,  Mr.  Norman  found  remains 
of  architecture  and  sculpture  scattered  over  an  area  of  many  miles,  the  history 
and  traditions  of  which  are  altogether  unknown  among  the  present  indolent  inhabi- 
tants of  the  region.  Three  leagues  south  of  Panuco  are  more  ruins,  known  as 
those  of  Chacuaco,  represented  as  covering  about  three  square  leagues,  all  of  which 
seem  to  have  been  comprised  within  the  bounds  of  a large  city.  Five  leagues 
southwest  of  these  are  some  remains  at  San  Nicolas ; and  six  leagues,  in  nearly 
the  same  direction,  are  others,  at  La  Trinidad.  More  relics  of  the  same  character, 
together  with  quantities  of  pottery,  vessels,  clay  images,  &c.  &c.,  are  found  in  the 
same  district;  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  character  of  the  inhabitants,  as  well 
as  the  health  of  the  region,  do  not  invite  a more  thorough  scientific  examination 
of  the  State. 

Sixteen  leagues  from  the  sea,  and  fifty-two  north  of  the  city  of  Vera  Cruz,  on 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  Cordillera,  and  two  leagues  from  the  Indian  hamlet  of  Pa- 
pantla,  lie,  spread  over  the  plain,  the  massive  ruins  of  an  ancient  city,  which,  in 
its  palmy  days,  was  perhaps  more  than  a mile  and  a half  in  circuit.  The  best 
account  we  have  of  this  spot  is  to  be  found  in  Nebel’s  work,  and,  if  we  can  rely 
on  the  accuracy  of  his  drawing  of  the  Pyramid — called  by  the  neighboring  Indians 
“ El  Tajin” — it  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  perfect  and  symmetrical  relics 
of  antiquity  within  the  present  limits  of  the  Mexican  republic.  Time  has  done  its 
work  upon  the  edifice ; but,  according  to  Nebel,  the  whole  form  and  character  of 
the  architecture  are  still  discernible  beneath  the  trees  and  vines  that  have  sprung 
up  among  its  loosened  joints.  The  pyramid  is  represented  by  this  artist  as  being 
built  of  sandstone,  nicely  squared  and  united,  and  covered  with  a hard  stucco, 
which  seems  to  have  been  painted.  Its  base,  on  all  sides,  is  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet ; and  as  it  is  ascended  by  a stair,  composed  of  fifty-seven  steps,  each 


1 See  Lyons’s  Travels  in  Mexico;  Nebel’s  Yoyage,  &c.  &c.  ; Mexico  ; Aztec,  Spanish,  and  Republi- 
can ; Clavigero,  ‘Storia  de  Messico.’ 

2 Norman’s  Rambles  by  Land  and  Water,  and  Notes  of  Travel  in  Cuba  and  Mexico. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


17 


measuring  a foot  in  height,  it  may  he  calculated  that  the  summit  was  at  least  sixty 
feet  from  the  ground.  It  consists  of  seven  stories  or  bodies,  each  decreasing  in 
size  as  it  ascends  from  the  base,  and  all  of  the  form  shown  by  the  annexed  profile 
of  the  lower  story  : — 


A few  miles  from  Papantla,  near  an  Indian  rancho,  called  Mapilca,  Mr.  Nebel 
discovered  more  pyramids,  carved  stones,  and  the  ruins  of  an  extensive  town,  but 
everything  was  so  overgrown  with  the  tropical  vegetation,  that  he  found  it  im- 
possible to  penetrate  the  district,  and  examine  the  relics.  The  artist  has  preserved 
the  drawing  of  only  a single  sculpured  stone,  which  he  describes  as  twenty-one  feet 
long  and  of  close-grained  granite.  The  figures  carved  on  the  fragment  differ 
from  the  ancient  sculptures  found  east  of  the  main  Cordillera,  and  somewhat 
resemble  those  in  Oajaca.  By  excavating  in  front  of  the  stone,  Mr.  Nebel  dis- 
covered a road  formed  of  irregular  blocks,  not  unlike  the  old  Roman  pavements. 

About  fifteen  leagues  west  of  Papantla,  and  still  in  the  State  of  Yera  Cruz,  in  a 
small  plain  at  the  foot  of  the  eastern  Cordillera,  are  the  remains  known  as  those  of 
Tusapau,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  a settlement  of  Totonacs.  The  vestiges  of 
this  small  aboriginal  establishment  are  nearly  obliterated,  and  the  only  striking 
objects  at  present  are  a fountain — in  human  shape, — and  a pyramid  of  four  stories  or 
bodies,  in  which  the  pyramidal  and  vertical  lines  are  again  united — the  second  story 
being  reached,  at  a door,  by  a flight  of  steps.  This  pyramid  is  built  of  stones,  of 
unequal  sizes,  and  has  a base  of  thirty  feet  on  each  of  its  four  sides.  In  front  of  the 
door  stands  a pedestal,  but  the  idol  it  probably  supported  has  been  destroyed.  Around 
the  pyramid  are  scattered  masses  of  stone,  rudely  carved,  to  represent  men  and 
various  animals  ; yet,  from  the  inferior  manner  in  which  the  work  is  executed,  we 
may  judge  that  the  art  of  ornamentation  was  just  beginning  to  be  engrafted  on  the 
pyramidal  and  vertical  architecture  of  the  builders.  The  fountain  to  which  I have 
alluded,  is  cut  from  solid  rock;  is  nineteen  feet  high,  and  represents  a female  in  an 
indecent,  squatting  attitude.  The  remains  of  a pipe  which  conveyed  water  to  the 
image,  is  still  seen  in  the  back  of  the  head,  and  the  liquid  passed  through  the  body 
of  the  gigantic  work,  till  it  was  discharged  below  the  figure  into  a basin  and  canal, 
which  carried  it  to  the  neighboring  town. 

On  the  Island  of  Sacrificios,  just  south  of  the  present  city  of  Vera  Cruz,  there 
are  no  longer  any  architectural  remains  of  edifices  used  for  those  brutal  rites  which 
made  the  spot  so  celebrated  at  the  period  of  the  conquest;  but  the  soil  has  jdelded 
many  relics  in  the  shape  of  vases,  images,  carvings,  sepulchres,  and  skeletons;  and 
it  is  said  that  fragments  of  pottery  and  obsidian  are  still  found  in  considerable 
quantities. 

If  we  go  westward  from  this  spot,  and  penetrate  the  State  of  Yera  Cruz  until  we 
3 


18 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


strike  a ridge  of  mountains  in  the  district  of  Misantla,  about  thirty  miles  from  the 
well  known  and  beautiful  town  of  Jalapa,  we  encounter  a precipitous  elevation, 
near  the  Cerro  of  Estillero,  on  whose  narrow  strip  of  table-land  the  remains  of  an 
extensive  town  were  discovered  in  1835.  It  is  described  as  perfectly  isolated. 
Steep  rocks  and  ravines  surround  the  mountain,  and  beyond  these  precipices  there 
is  a lofty  wall  of  hills  from  the  summit  of  which  the  sea  is  visible.  As  the  moun- 
tain plain  is  approached,  the  traveller  discovers  a broken  wall  of  massive  stones 
united  by  a weak  cement,  which  seems  to  have  constituted  the  boundary  or  fortifi- 
cation of  a circular  area  or  open  space,  in  whose  centre  a pyramid,  with  three 
stages  (but  without  any  mixture  of  vertical  lines  in  the  shape),  rises  to  a height  of 
eighty  feet,  having  a base  of  forty  feet,  Qn  two  sides,  by  forty-nine  on  the  two  others. 
Beyond  the  encircling  wall  are  the  remains  of  the  town,  extending  northward  for 
nearly  three  miles  along  the  table-land.  The  stone  foundations — large,  square,  and 
massive — are  still  distinguishable,  and  the  lines  of  the  streets  may  be  traced  in 
blocks,  about  300  yards  from  each  other.  Some  of  the  walls  of  these  edifices  are 
still  standing,  in  broken  masses,  at  a height  of  three  or  four  feet  from  the  ground. 
South  of  the  town  are  the  fragments  of  a low  wall,  evidently  intended  for  defence 
in  that  quarter;  while,  north  of  it,  there  is  a tongue  of  land,  jutting  out  towards 
the  precipitous  edge  of  the  mountain,  the  centre  of  which  is  occupied  by  a mound, 
supposed  by  explorers  to  have  been  the  cemetery  of  the  ancient  inhabitants. 
Twelve  tombs,  built  of  stone,  and  a number  of  carved  figures,  vases,  and  utensils 
were  exhumed;  but  the  images  and  minor  objects  were  taken  to  Vera  Cruz,  and  all 
trace  of  them  has  unfortunately  been  lost.1 

In  November,  1843,  further  east  of  these  remains,  Don  Jose  Maria  Esteva  found 
in  a thick  forest,  about  three  miles  and  a half  from  the  Puente  Nacional  or  national 
bridge,  the  interesting  remains  of  architecture  which  had  been  first  visited  in  1819 
or  ’20  by  a clergyman  named  Cabe9a  de  Vaca.  The  temple  or  teocalli  seems  to  he 
cm  exceedingly  steep  pyramid  of  steps,  the  base  of  which  is  shaped  as  follows: 


s 


It  is  elevated  on  a mount  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  level  of  a 
stream  which  flows  at  its  feet;  and,  in  consequence  of  the  inequality  of  the 
ground,  is  thirty-three  Spanish  feet  high  on  some  of  its  sides  and  forty-two  on 
others.  It  fronts  eastwardly,  and  the  platform  of  its  top  is  reached  by  thirty-four 


1 Mosaico  Mejicano. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY. 


19 


steps,  so  as  to  be  almost  perpendicular  to  the  base.  This  platform  is  forty-eight 
Spanish  feet  broad  and  seventy  long,  and  the  steps  rise  on  all  the  sides  indicated 
on  the  above  ground-plan  by  the  letter  S.  The  entire  structure  is  of  sand,  lime, 
and  large  stones  taken  from  the  bed  of  the  stream;  and  though  very  old  and  of 
course  covered  with  a thick  mantle  of  tropical  plants  and  trees,  its  form  is  declared, 
to  be  almost  perfect.  At  first  it  was  supposed  to  be  solid,  but  an  entrance  was 
discovered  from  the  west,  but  so  small  and  clogged  that  the  explorers  were  not 
disposed  to  venture  within  for  fear  of  venomous  insects  and  serpents  with  which 
the  interior  in  all  likelihood  is  swarming.1 


1 See  Museo  Mejicano,  II,  465,  for  plate  and  description. 


CHAPTER  Y. 


East  of  tlie  State  of  Yera  Cruz,  but  separated  from  it  by  Tobasco  and  the 
southern  bend  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  lies  the  State  of  Yucatan ; and,  southeast  of 
it,  the  State  of  Chiapas. 

The  physical  character  of  these  States  demonstrates  the  prolific  and  agreeable 
climate  that  probably  attracted  the  large  population  with  which  the  region  must 
have  been  filled  before  the  Spanish  conquest.  Since  1840,  three  important  wrorks 
have  been  issued  by  the  American  press  relative  to  the  architectural  remains  in 
these  States.  Two  of  these  are  from  the  pen  and  pencil  of  the  late  Messrs.  John 
L.  Stephens  and  Catherwood,  while  the  third  is  the  result  of  a visit  paid  to  Yucatan 
in  1841-2,  by  Mr.  B.  M.  Norman.1  In  the  “long,  irregular  route”  pursued  by 
Stephens  and  Catherwood,  “ they  discovered  the  remains  of  fifty-four  ancient  cities, 
most  of  them  but  a short  distance  apart,  though,  from  the  great  change  that  has 
taken  place  in  the  country  and  the  breaking  up  of  old  roads,  having  no  direct 
communication  with  each  other.  With  but  few  exceptions,  all  were  lost,  buried, 
and  unknown,  never  before  visited  by  a stranger,  and  some  of  them,  perhaps,  never 
looked  upon  by  the  eyes  of  a white  man.”  In  Chiapas,  the  travellers  encountered 
remarkable  architectural  remains  at  Ocozingo  and  Palenque,  between  16°  and 
18°  of  N.  latitude;  and  passing  thence  to  Yucatan,  they  found  the  more  northern 
peninsular  region  crowded  with  monumental  ruins  at  Maxcanu,  Uxmal,  Sacbey, 
Xampon,  Sanacte,  Chun-hu-hu,  Labpahk,  Iturbide,  Mayapan,  San  Francisco,  Ticul, 
Nochacab,  Xoch,  Kabah,  Sabatsche,  Labna,  Kenick,  Izamal,  Saccacal,  Tecax,  Akil, 
Maui,  Macoba,  Becanchen,  Peto,  Chichen,  in  the  interior  of  the  State;  and  at  Tuloom, 
Tancar,  and  on  the  island  of  Cozumel,  on  its  eastern  coast.  All  these  architectural 
remnants  of  the  past,  lie  between  the  18°  and  211°  of  N.  latitude.  Of  all  this 
numerous  catalogue,  the  remains  at  Palenque  in  Chiapas,  and  of  Uxmal  and  Chichen 
in  Yucatan,  are  certainly  the  most  remarkable  for  their  architectural  forms  as  well 
as  embellishments ; but  they  have  been  made  known  so  popularly  throughout  the 
world  by  the  books  of  our  countrymen,  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  their 
characteristics  in  this  summary  sketch.  Mr.  Stephens  believed,  after  full  investi- 
gation, that  most  of  these  cities  and  towns  were  occupied  by  the  original  builders 
and  their  descendants,  at  the  time  of  the  conquest.2  If  any  reliance  is  to  be  placed 


1 Rambles  in  Yucatan,  by  B.  M.  Norman,  1 vol.  ; Stephens’  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America, 
Chiapa,  and  Yucatan,  2 vols.  ; and  Stephens’  Incidents  of  Travels  in  Yucatan,  2 vols.,  both  of  the  latter 
works  being  illustrated  by  Mr.  Catherwood,  who  has  since  published  many  of  his  drawings  in  a sepa- 
rate folio. 

2 See  his  first  work,  Yol.  II,  Chapter  XXYI ; and  his  second,  Yol.  II,  p.  444.  See,  also,  Trans. 
Am.  Eth.  Soc.,  Yol.  I,  and  Stephens’  Yucatan,  for  an  account  of  the  calendar  and  language  of  the 
people,  and  some  other  ethnographic  facts. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


21 


on  the  theory  of  progressive  architectural  forms,  the  drawings  of  Catherwood  show 
that  these  tribes  or  nations  of  the  aborigines  had  advanced  to  a very  important 
stage,  though  their  style  of  “ ornamentation”  indicates  that  they  had  not  entirely 
abandoned  the  barbaric  for  the  beautiful. 

Returning  again,  northward,  from  the  extreme  southern  limits  of  Mexico,  we 
find,  in  the  State  of  Puebla — which  lies  directly  west  of  the  northern  part  of  the 
State  of  Vera  Cruz — at  about  19°  of  north  latitude,  the  well  known  remains  of  the 
Pyramid  of  Cholula.  It  was  originally  constructed  of  adobes,  or  sun-dried  bricks, 
and  may  therefore  be  considered  a sort  of  earthwork.  The  huge  pyramidal  mass 
rises  abruptly  from  the  plain  of  Puebla  to  a height  of  204  feet,1  and  was  composed 
of  four  stages  or  stories  connected  by  terraces ; but  the  materials  of  the  mound 
have  been  so  worn  by  the  attrition  of  time  and  seasons,  that  at  present  it  resembles 
one  of  those  Indian  heaps  of  our  own  West,  with  which  the  reader  has  been  made 
acquainted  in  the  volumes  of  Squier  and  Davis.  The  most  striking  and  valuable 
facts  in  regard  to  it — as  its  shape  was  simply  pyramidal— are  to  be  found  in  the 
labor  and  materials  which  were  expended  on  a work  whose  base  line  measures 
1,060  feet,  and  whose  present  elevation  reaches  204. 

Adjoining  the  State  of  Puebla,  immediately  west  of  it,  and,  of  course,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  same  latitude,  we  enter  the  State  of  Mexico,  the  seat  and 
centre  of  the  Aztec  population  which  submitted  to  Cortez.  The  Spanish  settlement 
which  occupied  the  site  of  the  ancient  capital,  very  soon  obliterated  every  archi- 
tectural vestige  of  the  aborigines,  so  that  I am  not  aware,  either  from  my  own 
personal  examinations,  or  from  the  reports  of  travellers,  that  any  remains  of  temples, 
palaces,  pyramids,  or  other  edifices,  are  preserved  in  or  very  near  the  city  of 
Mexico.  The  National  Museum,  and  a few  private  collections,  are  full  of  small 
relics  of  various  characters,  which  have  been  found  on  the  surface  or  disinterred 
in  the  neighborhood.  These  relics  are  either  of  stone,  carved  with  skill  or  roughly ; 
or  of  clay  burnt  to  the  requisite  hardness  for  utensils.  To  the  images  or  objects, 
connected,  as  is  supposed,  with  the  religion  and  science  of  the  Aztecs,  various  and 
perhaps  arbitrary  names  have  often  been  affixed  by  antiquarians,  but  their  descrip- 
tion belongs  to  another  branch  of  archaeology  than  that  which  now  engages  our 
attention.2 

But,  if  the  city  of  Mexico  and  its  immediate  neighborhood  are  destitute  of  ancient 
architecture,  the  present  limits  of  the  State  are  not  without  some  valuable  remains 
of  that  character.  Across  the  Lake  of  Tezcoco,  at  a distance  of  about  twelve  miles 
from  the  capital,  and  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  modern  town  of  Tezcoco,  the 


1 According  to  the  accurate  scientific  measurements  of  Lieut.  Semmes,  of  tlie  II.  S.  Navy,  and  Lieut. 
Beauregard,  of  the  U.  S.  Engineers,  thus  differing  from  Humboldt,  whose  work  states  the  elevation  to 
be  1G2  feet.  See  Mexico,  Aztec,  Spanish,  and  Republican,  II,  230. 

2 The  reader  will  find  a full  account  of  these  lesser  remains  in  my  first  and  second  volumes  of  “ Mexico, 
Aztec,  Spanish,  and  Republican  and,  of  two  or  three  of  the  most  important,  in  Gama’s  “Descripcion 
de  las  dos  Piedras,  &c.”  The  size  and  sculpture  of  some  of  the  larger  stones  are  quite  wonderful  ; the 
image  called  “ Teoyaomiqui,”  is  cut  from  a single  block  of  basalt,  nine  feet  high  and  five  and  a half 
broad  ; the  “ Sacrificial  stone,”  also  of  basalt,  is  cylindrical,  nine  feet  in  diameter  and  three  high ; 
while  the  “ Calendar  stone,”  of  the  same  material,  is  eleven  feet  eight  inches  in  diameter’,  and  about  two 
feet  in  thickness. 


22 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


explorer  will  find  a shapeless  mass  of  burnt  bricks,  mortar,  and  earth,  thickly  over- 
grown with  shrubbery  and  aloes,  among  which  there  are  several  slabs  of  basalt 
neatly  squared,  and  laid  due  north  and  south,  forming,  in  all  likelihood,  the  only 
fragments  of  one  of  those  royal  residences  for  which  the  Tezcocan  princes  were 
celebrated  by  the  conquerors.  When  Mr.  Poinsett  visited  Tezcoco,  in  1825,  this 
heap  had  not  been  pillaged,  for  architectural  purposes,  as  much  as  it  has  been  since ; 
and,  among  the  ruins,  he  found  a regularly  arched  and  well-built  passage,  sewer,  or 
aqueduct,  formed  of  cut  stones  of  the  size  of  bricks,  cemented  with  the  strong 
mortar  used  by  the  aborigines  of  the  Yalley  in  all  their  works.  In  the  door  of  a 
room,  he  noticed  the  remains  of  a very  flat  arch , the  stones  of  which  were  of 
prodigious  bulk. 

In  the  southern  portion  of  Tezcoco,  are  the  extensive  remains  of  three  pyramidal 
masses,  whose  forms  were  still  tolerably  perfect  in  1842.  They  adjoin  each  other 
in  a direct  line  from  north  to  south;  and,  according  to  a rough  measurement  by 
myself,  are  about  400  feet  in  extent  on  each  front  of  their  bases.  These  erections 
were  constructed  partly  of  burnt  and  partly  of  sun-dried  bricks,  mixed  with  frag- 
ments of  pottery  and  thick  coverings  of  cement,  through  which  small  canals  had 
been  grooved  to  carry  off  the  water  from  the  upper  terrace.  Bernal  Diaz  del  Cas- 
tillo says  that  the  chief  teocalli  of  Tezcoco  was  ascended  by  117  steps;  and,  from 
the  quantity  of  obsidian  fragments,  vessels,  and  images,  found  on  the  sides  of  these 
structures,  it  may  be  surmised  that,  like  the  teocallis  of  the  capital,  they  were 
devoted  to  the  same  bloody  rites  that  are  described  in  the  writings  of  the  Spanish 
chroniclers  and  of  Mr.  Prescott. 

About  three  miles  east  of  Tezcoco,  across  the  gently  sloping  levels,  a sharp,  coni- 
cal mountain  rises  precipitously  from  the  plain,  and  though  now  covered  with  a 
thick  growth  of  nopals,  agaves,  and  bushes,  seems  to  have  been  the  site  of  some 
Aztec  or  Tezcocan  works  of  considerable  importance.  The  hill  is  full  of  the  debris 
of  ancient  pottery  and  obsidian  ; and,  about  fifty  feet  below  the  top,  facing  the  north, 
the  mountain  rock  has  been  cut  into  seats  surrounding  a sort  of  grotto  or  recess 
in  a steep  wall,  which  tradition  says  wras  once  covered  with  a calendar.  The 
sculptures  have  been  entirely  destroyed  by  modern  Indians,  who  cut  them  to 
pieces  in  search  for  treasure,  as  soon  as  they  found  the  spot  became  an  object  of 
interest  to  foreigners. 

Winding  downwards  by  the  remains  of  ancient  terraces  cut  in  the  hill,  we  find 
the  path  suddenly  terminated  by  an  abrupt  wall  which  plunges  down  the  mountain 
precipitously  for  two  hundred  feet.  Here,  another  recess  has  been  cut  in  the  solid 
rock,  also  surrounded  by  seats,  wdiile  in  the  centre  of  the  area  is  a basin,  into  which 
the  water  was  conveyed  by  a system  of  ingenious  engineering.  East  of  this  hill,  and 
filling  a ravine,  are  the  remains  of  the  stone,  masonry,  earthwork,  and  aqueduct 
pipes,  by  which  the  ancients  brought  the  mountain  streams  to  the  Hill  of  Tezco- 
cingo,  from  the  more  eastern  and  loftier  elevations.1 


1 There  is  an  account,  in  Spanish,  of  the  palace  and  gardens  of  Nezahualcoyotl,  at  Tezcocingo, 
extracted  from  Ixtlilxochil’s  History  of  the  Chichimecas,  in  the  third  volume  of  Prescott’s  History  of 
the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  p.  430.  The  hill  referred  to  by  the  Indian  historian  is,  probably,  the  one 
whose  remains  I have  noticed. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


23 


A ride  on  horseback  of  three  hours  will  bring  a traveller  from  Tezcoco,  north- 
eastwardly, to  the  village  of  San  Juan,  lying  in  a plain  hemmed  in  by  mountain 
spurs  and  ridges  on  all  sides  except  towards  the  east,  where  a depression  in  the 
chain  leads  into  the  plain  of  Otumba.  In  the  centre  of  this  valley  of  San  Juan 
are  the  two  pyramids  known  as  the  Tonatiuh-Ytzagual,  or  House  of  the  Sun,  and 
the  Meztli-Ytzagual,  or  House  of  the  Moon,  and  generally  denominated  the  Pyra- 
mids of  Teotihuacan.  At  the  distance  from  which  they  are  first  beheld  in  crossing 
the  hills,  the  foliage  and  bushes  that  cover  them  are  not  easily  discerned ; but  as 
they  are  approached,  the  work  of  nature  appears  to  have  encroached  on  that  of  art 
to  such  a degree,  that  all  the  sharp  outlines  of  the  pyramid  are  blurred  and  broken. 
In  advancing  towards  these  works,  the  evident  traces  of  an  old  road,  covered  for 
several  inches  with  hard  cement,  may  still  be  observed  ; and,  at  their  feet,  smaller 
mounds  and  stone  heaps  extend  in  long  lines  from  the  southern  side  of  the  “ House 
of  the  Moon.”  Earth  and  perhaps  adobes , seem  to  have  been  the  chief  materials 
used  in  the  erection  of  these  pyramids ; but,  in  many  places,  the  remains  of  a thick 
coating  of  cement  with  which  they  were  incrusted  in  the  days  of  their  perfection, 
were  still  to  be  found  in  the  year  1842.  The  base  line  of  the  House  of  the  Sun  is 
stated,  by  Mr.  Glennie,  to  be  682  feet,  and  its  perpendicular  height  121. 

Returning  again  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  going  thence  southward  over  the 
mountain  barrier  that  surrounds  the  valley  of  Mexico,  we  descend  into  the  warmer 
regions  of  the  valley  of  Cuernavaca;  and,  about  eighteen  miles  south  of  the  town 
of  that  name,  near  the  latitude  north  of  181  degrees,  but  still  in  the  State  of  Mex- 
ico, we  encounter  the  Cerro  of  Xochicalco,  or  “hill  of  flowers,”  which,  a few  years 
back,  was  still  crested  by  the  remains  of  a stone  pyramid.  The  base  of  the  hill  is 
reached  across  a wide  plain  intersected  by  ravines,  and  is  surrounded  by  the  remains 
of  a deep  wide  ditch.  The  summit  is  gained  by  winding  along  five  spiral  terraces, 
supported  with  stones  joined  by  cement.  Along  the  edge  of  this  winding  path  are 
the  remains  of  bulwarks  fashioned  like  the  bastions  of  a fortification.  On  the  top 
of  the  hill  there  is  a broad  level,  the  eastern  portion  of  which  is  occupied  by  three 
truncated  cones,  while  on  the  three  other  sides  of  the  esplanade  there  are  masses 
of  stones,  (which  may  have  formed  parts  of  similar  tumuli),  all  of  which  were 
evidently  carefully  cut  and  covered  with  stucco.  In  the  centre  of  the  area  are  the 
remains  of  the  first  story  or  body  of  the  pyramid,  which,  before  its  destruction  by 
the  neighboring  planters,  who  used  the  carved  and  squared  stones  for  building,  is 
said  to  have  consisted  of  five  pyramidal  masses  placed  on  each  other,  somewhat  in 
the  style  of  the  pyramid  of  Papantla.  The  story  that  has  been  spared  is  rectan- 


Outline  of  part  of  Xochicalco. 


24 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


gular,  faces  due  north  and  south,  and  measures  sixty-four  feet  on  the  northern  front 
above  the  plinth,  and  fifty-eight  on  the  western.  The  distance  between  the  plinth 
and  frieze  is  about  ten  feet,  the  breadth  of  the  frieze  three  and  a half  feet,  and  the 
height  of  the  cornice  one  foot  five  inches. 

The  most  perfect  portion  is  the  northern  front,  and  here  the  sculpture  in  relief 
on  the  pyramid  is  between  three  and  four  inches  deep  and  distinctly  perfect.  The 
massive  stones,  some  of  which  are  seven  feet  long  and  two  feet  six  inches  broad, 
are  all  laid  upon  each  other  without  cement,  and  kept  together  simply  by  the  weight 
of  the  incumbent  mass. 

The  dimensions  of  the  fragments  of  so  fine  a structure  will  give  the  reader  an 
idea  of  the  ingenuity  as  well  as  the  labor  employed  in  its  building;  for  it  must  be 
recollected  that  the  aboriginal  skill  was  not  taxed  in  the  shaping  or  adornment  of 
the  stones  in  a neighboring  quarry,  but  that  the  weighty  materials  were  drawn 
from  a considerable  distance  and  carried  up  a hill  300  feet  high,  without  the  use  of 
horses.  The  sculptures  on  this  monument  are  somewhat  rude  and  grotesque,  but 
they  appear  to  resemble  the  images  delineated  in  the  works  of  Stephens  and 
Catherwood,  as  found  by  them  in  Yucatan  and  Chiapas.  There  seems  to  be  no 
doubt,  from  the  lines  and  irregularity  of  the  stones,  that  the  reliefs  were  cut  after 
the  pyramid  was  erected. 

Besides  the  external  works  of  pyramid  and  terraces,  it  is  said  that  the  interior 
of  the  hill  was  hollowed  into  chambers.  Some  years  since  a party  of  gentlemen, 
under  orders  from  the  Mexican  government,  explored  the  subterranean  portions, 
and,  after  groping  through  narrow  passages,  whose  walls  were  covered  with  a hard 
glistening  gray  cement,  they  came  to  three  entrances  between  two  huge  pillars  cut 
in  the  mountain  rock.  Through  these  portals  they  entered  a chamber,  whose 
roof  was  a regular  cupola  built  of  stones  ranged  in  diminishing  circles,  while,  at 
the  top  of  the  dome  was  an  aperture  which  probably  led  to  the  surface  of  the  earth 
or  to  the  summit  of  the  pyramid. ^ Nebel,  who  visited  the  ruins  some  years  ago; 
relates,  as  an  Indian  tradition,  that  this  aperture  was  immediately  above  an  altar 
placed  in  the  centre  of  the  chamber,  and  that  the  sun’s  rays  fell  directly  on  the 
centre  of  the  shrine  when  the  luminary  was  vertical ! This  idea  is  perhaps  a fair 
specimen  of  the  traditions  and  guesses  with  which  ingenious  archseologists  bewilder 
themselves  and  their  readers.1 


1 See  Revesta  Mejicana,  I,  539. 
age  Archaeologique  et  Pittoresque  : 


Mexico;  Aztec,  Spanish,  and  Republican,  II,  284. 
Plate — Xochicalco. 


Nebel,  Toy- 


CHAPTER  VI. 


South  of  the  State  of  Yera  Cruz,  adjoining  the  State  of  Chiapas,  and  on  the 
western  slopes  of  the  Cordillera,  bounded  by  the  Pacific,  lies  the  State  of  Oajaca. 
This  region,  from  the  great  quantity  of  architectural  and  image-remains  found 
throughout  it,  seems  to  have  been  the  seat  of  an  advanced  civilization,  though  its 
history  is  much  less  known  than  that  of  the  central  portions  of  Mexico.  The  State 
has  been  by  no  means  thoroughly  explored,  either  for  its  resources  or  antiquities ; 
but  most  interesting  remains  are  known  to  exist  at  Tachila,  where  there  are  tumuli ; 
at  Monte  Alban,  two  leagues  S.  W.  from  the  town  of  Oajaca,  where  there  are  tumuli 
and  pyramids;  atCoyula;  atSanJuandelosCu.es;  at  Guengola;  at  Quiotepec,  and 
at  Mitla.  Most  of  the  relics  present  pyramidal  shapes,  in  combination  with  the 
vertical;  a specimen  of  which  is  here  copied  from  Lord  Kingsborough’s  plates  of 
Dupaix’s  expedition. 


Remains  near  Telruantepec,  Oajaca. 


In  1844,  an  examination  was  made,  by  order  of  the  Governor  of  Oajaca,  of  the 
remains  near  Quiotepec,  a village  about  thirty-two  leagues  northwardly  from  the 
capital  of  the  State.  These  ruins,  originally  constructed  of  cut  stone,  are  found  on 
the  Cerro  de  las  Juntas,  or  Union  Hill,  so  called  from  its  neighborhood  to  the 
junction  of  the  Rivers  Salado  and  Quiotepec. 

The  eminence  is  said  to  be  covered,  in  every  direction,  with  remains  of  works 
of  a defensive  character,  designed,  as  it  appears,  to  protect  the  dwellings  erected  on 
the  hill,  and  the  large  temple  and  palace,  whose  massive  ruins  still  crown  the  sum- 
mit. These  fragments  of  the  past  are  represented  to  be  somewhat  similar  to  those 
of  Chicocomoc  or  Quemada,  in  the  northern  part  of  Mexico,  which  I have  already 
described  in  the  notice  of  architectural  antiquities  in  Zacatecas.  The  resemblance 
4 


26 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


consists  in  the  style  of  building,  and  the  mingling  of  worship  and  civic  defences. 
There  does  not  appear,  however,  to  be  any  similarity  between  these  ruins  and  the 
remains  found  in  Yucatan  and  Chiapas,  where  the  designs  are  much  carved  and 
ornamented,  denoting,  perhaps,  a higher  degree  of  luxury,  taste,  and  civilization. 
The  temples  of  Quiotepec,  and  that  of  Chicocomoc,  or  Quemada,  are  both  pyra- 
midal, like  most  of  the  Mexican  structures ; but  the  architectural  style  generally, 
at  the  former  place,  is  rather  more  sumptuous  than  that  at  Quemada.1 


Remains  near  Tehuantepec,  Oajaca. 


The  most  interesting,  perhaps,  of  the  architectural  remains  within  the  present 
bounds  of  Mexico,  in  Oajaca,  are  those  of  MitlA  ; and,  as  it  was  not  until  the  year 
1494  that  the  Aztecs  finally  subdued  the  people  of  Mictla,  in  the  province  of 
Huaxaca,2  it  is  not  likely  that  the  constructive  talent  or  tastes  of  that  region  were 
modified  or  controlled  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Valley  of  Anahuac.  The  same 
remark  applies  to  all  the  other  districts,  in  every  quarter  outside  the  valley,  where 
the  aborigines  became  subject  to  the  Aztecs,  either  by  alliance  or  conquest.  It  is 


1 See  Museo  Mejicano,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  329,  for  drawings  of  these  monuments.  See,  also,  Yol.  I,  p. 
401,  of  the  same  work,  and  Yol.  Ill,  p.  135,  for  accounts  of  Zapotec  remains;  and  Yol.  I,  p.  246,  for 
an  imperfect  notice  of  military  fortifications,  &c.  &c.,  near  Guengola,  Tehuantepec. 

2 Gama;  Gallatin,  Eth.  Soc.  Trans.,  Vol.  I,  131.  Mexican  Chronology.  Clavigero,  Lond.  ed., 
Yol.  I,  p.  185. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


27 


very  probable  that  hundreds  of  the  unfortunate  Zapotec  inhabitants  of  Mitla  and 
Huaxaca,  or  Oajaca,  who  had  become  prisoners  to  Aheutzotl,  in  'previous  wars, 
swelled  the  splendid  but  brutal  sacrifice  of  human  victims,  with  which  the  great 
temple  of  Mexico  was  dedicated  in  1487. 1 

Very  soon  after  the  first  success  of  Cortez  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  the  people  of 
Oajaca  sent  embassies  to  claim  his  protection;  and,  as  soon  as  the  country  was 
absolutely  conquered,  and  the  victor  had  learned  the  value  of  the  region  from  the 
reports  of  Alvarado  and  the  Spaniards  who  began  to  settle  there,  he  seems  to 
have  selected  it  as  his  own  particular  domain.  When  the  crown  raised  him  to  the 
dignity  of  “ Marquess  of  the  Valley  of  Oajaca,”  he  was  endowed  with  a vast  tract 
of  land  in  the  province,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  his  twenty  large  towns,  and 
twenty-three  thousand  vassals,  were  to  be  found  mainly  within  the  boundary  of 
his  Zapotec  territory.  These  facts  are  mentioned  to  show  that  the  acts  of  Cortez 
himself  indicate  the  value  of  the  region  in  which  Mitla  lies  ; and,  in  all  likelihood, 
illustrate  the  degree  of  civilization  it  possessed  prior  to  the  Aztec  conquest.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  there  are  so  few  traces  of  the  ancient  Zapotec  tribes,  and  that 
we  are  left  to  grope  in  the  dark,  with  scarcely  a cobweb  to  guide  us  through  the 
ruined  labyrinth  of  their  history.  The  great  natural  features  and  characteristics 
of  the  region  remain  of  course  the  same  ; and  from  its  general  salubrity,  its  fertility 
of  soil,  the  nature  of  its  productions,  its  geological  structure,  and  beauty  of  natural 
scenery,  we  may  fairly  suppose  that  its  famous  “valley”  possessed  many  attractions 
similar  to  those  which  induced  the  Aztecs  to  make  their  lodgement  in  the  Vale  of 
Anahuac.  Zacliila,  which  is  a corruption  of  the  word  Zaachillattoo,  as  written  in  an 
ancient  MS.  seen  by  Dupaix,  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  great  Valley  of  Oajaca, 
and,  in  former  times,  is  said  to  have  been  the  seat  and  court  of  the  Zapotec  kings. 
Ten  or  twelve  leagues  southeastwardly  from  the  town  of  Oajaca,  engulfed  in  a deep 
valley,  crested  with  cerros  whose  dry,  sterile,  and  poorly  watered  soil  is  probably 
more  prolific  of  snakes  and  poisonous  insects  than  of  anything  else,  lies  the  modern 
village  of  San  Pablo-Mitlan.  Its  name  was  derived  from  Mictlan,  or  Miquitlan, 
“ a place  of  sadness,”  which  it  probably  received  from  the  Aztecs,  while  the  Zapotec 
appellation  seems  to  have  been  Liuba  or  Leoba,  “ the  tomb.”  It  is  here  that  we 


1 The  cruelty  of  the  Mexican  sacrifices  of  human  beings  has  always  been  one  of  the  principal  argu- 
ments against  the  civilization,  and  in  favor  of  the  barbarism  of  the  Aztecs.  All  religion  includes  the 
idea  of  sacrifice — spiritual  or  physical — actual  or  symbolical.  The  Christian  sacrifices  his  selfish  nature  ; 
the  Idolater  propitiates  by  victims.  The  Aztec  sacrifice  arose,  probably,  from  a blended  motive  of 
propitiation  and  'policy.  The  human  sacrifice  by  that  people  was,  perhaps,  founded  on  the  idea  that 
the  best  way  of  getting  rid  of  culprits,  dangerous  people,  and  prisoners  of  war  taken  in  immense 
numbers,  and  whom  it  was  impossible  to  support  or  retain  in  subjection  without  converting  a large 
portion  of  their  small  kingdom  into  a jail — was  to  offer  them  to  their  gods.  It  is  true,  that  savage 
nations,  such  as  the  Africans  of  Dahome,  &c.,  admit  the  purest  barbaric  notions  of  human  sacrifice  ; 
but  can  such  cruel  contradictions  be  attributed — with  their  more  brutal  motives — to  the  Aztecs,  who,  in 
other  respects,  possessed  so  many  titles  to  civilization  ? Still,  it  must  be  admitted,  that  if  we  regard 
the  grossness  of  the  Aztec  idolatry  alone,  at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  we  could  form  no  idea  of  that 
people’s  intellectual  progress  in  other  respects.  Yet  their  architecture,  laws,  government,  private 
life,  and  astronomical  knowledge,  show  that  their  social  condition  was  much  more  refined  than  their 
faith,  so  that  we  must  suppose  the  Valley  of  Anahuac  was  full  of  priestcraft  and  superstition,  and  that 
its  cultivated  society  was  in  advance  of  its  religion. 


28 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


find  the  architectural  remains  which  were  first  made  known,  partially,  by  the  draw- 
ings of  Don  Luis  Martin,  in  1802,  of  Dupaix,  in  1806,  and  are  now  shown  in  the 
accompanying  pictures,  drawn  on  the  spot,  in  1837,  by  Mr.  J.  G.  Sawkins. 

According  to  the  traditions  reported  by  the  earlier  explorers,  the  chief  object 
designed  in  the  erection  of  these  edifices  was  to  preserve  the  remains  of  Zapotec 
princes ; and  it  is  alleged,  that  at  the  death  of  a son  or  brother,  the  sovereign 
retired  to  this  place,  and  taking  up  his  residence  in  a portion  of  the  building  which 
was  calculated  for  habitation,  performed  religious  services  and  gave  vent  to  cere- 
monious sorrow.  Other  reports,  of  the  same  period,  say  that  these  solitary  and 
dreary  abodes  were  inhabited  by  an  association  of  priests  who  devoted  their  lives 
to  expiatory  services  for  the  dead.  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  site  is  admirably 
calculated  for  any  one,  or  all,  of  these  gloomy  purposes ; for,  according  to  the 
accounts  of  travellers,  the  silence  of  the  lonely  valley,  which  is  reached  conve- 
niently but  by  one  approach,  is  unbroken  even  by  the  songs  of  birds.  Perhaps  it 
was — not  only  in  location,  but  destination — an  aboriginal  Escorial,  where  life,  death, 
and  religion  mingled  their  austere  but  courtly  pageants. 

Plate  No.  1 presents  a general  picture  of  the  ruins ; while  the  following  cut,  A, 
taken  from  a drawing  by  Martin,  in  1802  (and,  perhaps,  not  strictly  accurate, 
except  as  to  parts  of  the  main  edifice),  shows  a ground-plan  or  sketch  of  the 
whole  group,  so  as  to  make  the  scene  intelligible  to  the  reader.1 


A large  portion  of  the  valley  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  three  mountains,  seen 
in  Plate  1,  is  said  to  be  still  covered  with  heaps  indicating  the  sites  of  ancient 
architecture ; but,  as  most  of  the  ground  is  under  cultivation,  every  relic  of  the 
architecture  itself  is  destroyed,  and  even  the  ground-plans  have  become  so  indistinct 


1 Martin,  for  instance,  seems  to  indicate  five  remains,  while  there  are  only  four ; and  gives  two 
columns  at  the  entrance  of  the  remaining  building,  while  there  are  three. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


29 


as  to  make  all  researches  useless.  But  the  group  which  at  present  interests  us, 
seems,  from  Mr.  Sawkins’s  observations,  to  have  consisted  originally  of  four  con- 
nected, or  nearly  connected,  buildings,  each  one  fronting  a cardinal  point,  the  whole 
inclosing  a square  court.  The  original  erections  may,  in  all  likelihood,  have  resem- 
bled the  following  sketch,  in  their  ground  plan  : — 


Of  the  southernmost  of  these  edifices,  Mr.  Sawkins  found  five  upright  columns 
still  standing — four  supporting  portions  of  a wall,  while  the  fifth,  which  was  taller 
than  the  rest,  stood  alone.  These  fragments  are  seen  in  Plate  No.  1,  immediately 
in  front  of  the  spectator.  On  the  west  of  the  square,  there  are  the  remains  of 
crumbling  and  indistinct  walls  ; on  the  north,  everything  seems  to  be  obliterated ; 
while,  on  the  east  of  the  quadrangle,  is  the  edifice  forming  the  main  feature  of 
Plate  No.  1,  and  which  is  represented,  at  large,  from  the  rear,  in  Plate  No.  2. 

Passing  over  the  court-yard,  or  quadrangle — still  floored  with  a hard  cement  and 
slabs  of  sandstone — we  approach  the  entrance  of  this  building,  which  consists  of  four 
apertures  between  three  low,  square  columns,  or  door  jambs,  through  which  the 
interior  can  only  be  reached  in  a crouching  posture.  These  four  apertures  admit 
the  passage,  through  each,  of  but  one  person  at  a time.  On  either  side  of  this 
portal,  as  seen  in  No.  1,  there  are  niches  or  recesses,  on  the  front,  which  were  pro- 
bably filled  by  images.  This  portion  of  the  exterior  wall,  or  facade,  is  said  by 
Mr.  Sawkins  to  be,  at  present,  without  any  adornments;  but  whether  such  was 
its  original  state,  or  whether  it  has  been  stripped  of  its  coverings  by  the  neighbor- 
ing Mexicans,  we  are  not  distinctly  informed.  The  large  stones  forming  the  cornice 
over  the  entrance,  were  especially  remarked  by  our  traveller,  as  indicating — both 
by  size  and  neatness  of  workmanship — the  ingenuity  and  power  of  the  builders.1 

Upon  entering  through  one  of  the  low  and  narrow  adits,  just  described,  Mr. 
Sawkins  found  himself  in  an  oblong  court  or  apartment,  of  very  considerable  size. 
Its  walls  were  covered  with  a rich,  highly  polished,  red  plaster,  so  hard  as  to  resist 
the  knife.  At  the  two  ends  of  this  court  there  were  niches,  as  well  as  one  directly 
in  front  of  the  entrance ; but  the  images  or  utensils  they  were  intended  for  by 
the  aborigines,  had  long  disappeared.  It  was  in  a line  along  the  centre  of  this 


1 Mr.  Glennie,  a British  traveller,  states  the  dimensions  of  some  of  the  stones  above  the  entrances 
of  these  buildings  to  be : eighteen  feet  long,  four  feet  ten  inches  broad,  three  feet  six  inches  thick ; 
another  is  nineteen  feet  four  inches  long,  four  feet  ten  and  a half  inches  broad,  and  three  feet  nine 
inches  thick  ; a third  is  nineteen  feet  six  inches  long,  four  feet  ten  inches  broad,  and  three  feet  four 
inches  thick ! 


30 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY. 


apartment  that  Martin,  in  1802,  and  Dupaix,  four  years  after,  found  the  six  cylin- 
drical stone  columns , without  bases  or  capitals  and  of  a single  shaft,  the  position 
of  which  is  shown  in  the  ground-plan  I have  given,  on  another  page,  from  Martin’s 
drawing.1  But  when  Mr.  Sawkins  visited  Mitla,  in  1837,  the  columns  had  been 
removed,  probably  by  the  present  villagers,  for  their  domestic  purposes.  These 
columns  had  evidently  been  intended  to  support  the  roof  which  formerly  covered 
this  portion  of  the  edifice,  and  are  represented  by  Dupaix  to  have  been  one  vara  in 
diameter  and  five  and  a half  varas  high ; or  near  three  feet  in  diameter  by  about 
fifteen  in  altitude! 

The  large  court,  or  saloon,  just  described,  communicated  at  its  rear,  by  a narrow 
passage  (as  will  be  seen  in  Martin’s  plan),  with  another  body  of  the  edifice,  which 
that  artist  represents  to  have  been  a sort  of  interior  court , surrounded  by  four  rooms 
without  windows,  each  of  which  was  entered  by  a single  door.  Don  Luis  Martin 
represents  it,  evidently,  as  a structure  resembling  the  modern  edifices  of  the  Mexi- 
cans, which  are  similarly  constructed  around  a patio,  or  court,  without  external 
windows.  It  is  probable  that  such  may  have  been  the  state  of  the  ruins  in  1802, 
hut  when  they  were  seen  by  Mr.  Sawkins,  in  1837,  he  found  the  whole  interior 
quadrangle  an  unoccupied  area,  while  three  of  its  walls  were  covered  with  nine 
long  recesses  on  each  side,  in  three  tiers,  each  recess  being  large  enough  for  the 
reception  of  a human  body.  These  vaults  were  plastered  with  the  same  kind  of 
cement  that  was  found  in  the  first  apartment,  but  they  were  all  empty. 

In  the  centre  of  the  main  court-yard  of  the  whole  group,  there  are  said  to  be 
subterranean  apartments  similar  to  those  which  have  been  found  elsewhere  in  this 
valley,  and  which  have  been  represented  as  adorned  in  the  following  cuts. 


rcxrxxxTzn 


\ 

\ 

Sr  ■ - pm 

1 _ g|M|)(iinT1l'ltllT)!)lli[;itffl( 

Mffl  - 

iiiflliiiilliiiHlii! im  ill  plll  §!li 

f 

J See  cut  on  page  28. 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


31 


If  we  leave  the  interior  of  this  building,  we  may  now  obtain  an  accurate  and 
excellent  idea  of  its  outside  from  the  minute  drawings  of  Mr.  Sawkins,  in  Plate 
No.  2.  It  is  a monument  which  cannot  fail  to  strike  the  student  of  American 
architectural  archteology  as  being  the  first  effort  of  the  aborigines  that  not  only 
abandons  the  vertical  and  pyramidal,  but  absolutely  reverses  the  latter,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  indulges  in  a style  of  elaborate  and  regular  adornment  which  far  sur- 
passes many  remains  of  Etruscan  art,  and  may  almost  be  said  to  resemble  the 
Greek.  These  exteriors  have  been  constructed  with  great  labor  as  well  as  in- 
genuity. Above  the  ground,  the  building, — whose  interior  wall  is  formed  of  adobes , 
or  sun-dried  bricks, — is  cased,  for  about  five  feet,  with  a pyramidal  base  of  stone 
slabs  about  two  inches  thick ; and,  from  this  point,  the  walls,  still  of  stone,  and 
sharply  cut,  begin  to  incline  outwards  till  they  reach  a height  of  near  twenty-five 
feet.  Each  of  the  seven  exterior  walls,  as  seen  in  Plate  2,  is  divided  into  nine 
compartments,  corresponding  with  the  sepulchral  recesses  or  vaults  we  noticed  on 
the  interior.  From  the  point  where  the  walls  strike  outwards  from  the  perpen- 
dicular, all  the  corners  and  divisions  appear  to  be  formed  by  stouter  stones  than  the 
slabs  which  encase  the  base.  The  bands,  which  are  the  frames,  as  it  were,  of  each 
of  these  sixty-three  divisions,  are  all  of  solid  stone,  cleanly  and  sharply  chiselled  ; 
while  the  ornamental  figures  contained  in  the  squares  are  formed  by  a Mosaic  work 
of  small  square  stones,  artistically  placed  beside  each  other,  in  high  relief,  and 
imbedded  in  a mass  of  adamantine  cement,  similar  to  that  which  covers  the  inte- 
rior walls.  The  spectator  who  looks  at  one  end  of  this  singular  building,  with  its 
basket-like  outline  and  beautiful  adornments,  might  almost  fancy  that  he  stood  in 
front  of  a gigantic  sarcophagus , designed  and  sculptured  in  advanced  periods  of 
Grecian  and  Roman  art.1 

About  half  a mile  west  of  these  ruins,  Mr.  Sawkins  found  a large,  dark  red, 
porphyritic  column,  which,  for  the  sake  of  illustration,  he  has  taken  the  liberty  to 
represent  in  Plate  No.  2,  as  lying  near  the  edifice.  It  had  probably  been  carried 
off  from  the  building  by  some  vandals,  and  abandoned  before  they  could  devote  it 
to  their  private  uses.  The  artist  states  that  the  marks  of  the  chisel  or  chipping 
tool  are  still  visible  on  this  column,  and  remarks  that  many  blocks,  from  these  and 
other  edifices  of  the  valley,  were  employed  in  building  the  church  which  is  seen  in 
Plate  No.  1.  To  the  southwest,  near  the  point  indicated  in  the  picture  by  the 
union  of  the  three  hills  with  the  plain,  Mr.  Sawkins  saw  the  ruins  of  many  other 
edifices,  but  all  were  so  dilapidated  that  nothing  could  be  made  out.  Wherever 
he  detected  the  remains  of  cement  or  mortar , either  on  the  roads,  in  the  open  air,  or 
on  walls,  he  found  it  still  perfectly  hard  and  serviceable,  and  but  little  injured 
either  by  time  or  attrition.  There  seems  to  have  been  a great  fondness  among  the 
Zapotecs  for  red , and  it  is  alleged  that  a color,  which  is  so  unpicturesque  in  archi- 
tecture, seems  to  have  been  plentifully  distributed  over  the  exterior  as  well  as  the 
interior  of  the  remarkable  edifice  we  have  been  considering. 

Plate  No.  3 exhibits  the  characteristics  of  the  image-remains  of  the  Zapotecs. 


1 Humboldt  says  that  the  walls  extend,  on  a line,  about  forty  metres,  and  are  fire  or  six  high  : a 
metre,  in  round  numbers,  is  39  / English  inches. 


32 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 


No.  1 was  drawn  by  me  from  the  original  in  sandstone,  which  I found  in  Mexico 
in  1842,  in  the  fine  collection  of  the  Conde  del  Penasco.  Archaeologists  who  are 
familiar  with  the  style  of  images  found  among  Aztec  remains,  in  the  Valley  of 
Mexico,  as  well  as  with  the  same  class  of  objects  from  Yucatan,  Tabasco,  and  else- 
where in  that  quarter,  will  at  once  observe  their  difference  from  the  images  repre- 
sented in  the  plate.  Grotesque  and  hideous  as  they  are,  they  seem  to  possess,  in 
the  symmetrical  arrangement  of  the  designs,  and  in  their  originality,  many  more 
elements  of  art  than  are  found  in  the  images  of  the  Aztec  or  Maya  tribes.  I have 
introduced  them  here  for  the  purpose  of  hinting  that,  in  all  the  Zapotec  remains  of 
architecture  and  ornament  that  have  come  down  to  us,  we  find  traces  of  rather 
more  inventive  talent  and  taste  than  among  the  other  aboriginal  tribes  with  which 
we  are  acquainted.1 

About  a league  northeasterly  from  the  ruins  of  Mitla,  Mr.  Sawkins  visited  the 
remains  of  the  Zapotec  fortification  which  he  has  represented  in  Plate  No.  4.  A 
steep,  isolated  hill,  about  three  hundred  feet  high,  with  a base  nearly  a league  in 
extent,  rises  in  this  spot  and  commands  the  whole  plain.  The  broad,  oval  summit, 
whose  greatest  diameter  is  about  six  hundred  feet,  is  reached  with  difficulty  from 
all  sides  except  the  southern.  By  this  approach,  the  entrance  or  gateway  is 
attained  in  a wall  about  six  feet  thick  and  eighteen  high.  The  plate  shows  the 
character  of  the  works,  which  contain  a second  or  inner  wall,  as  is  seen  in  the 
rear  of  the  first  behind  the  gateway;  while  in  the  interior,  are  the  remains  of  three 
edifices,  which  were  probably  intended  for  the  barracks  of  the  defenders.  Two  of 
these  buildings  are  on  the  southern  side,  overlooking  the  approach  by  the  gateway, 
while  the  remaining  one  is  placed  towards  the  east.  It  seems  from  the  heaps  of 
inlecl  stones,  still  to  be  seen  by  modern  travellers,  and  from  the  huge  masses  of 
isolated  rock  found  by  Mr.  Sawkins  and  represented  in  his  sketch,  that  these  were 
the  principal  weapons  with  which  the  defenders  protected  themselves  against 
assailants.  How  the  possessors  of  this  ancient  fortress  supplied  themselves  with 
water,  on  the  top  of  an  abrupt,  isolated  hill  of  300  feet  elevation,  we  are  not  yet 
informed  by  any  explorers.  It  is  stated  by  some  travellers  that  several  thousand 
men  might  have  gathered  for  protection  within  these  walls ; but  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  the  structure  was  ever  designed  for  anything  but  a temporary 
refuge  in  times  of  extreme  danger,  when  the  plain  had  been  invaded  and  ravaged. 


I have  now  completed  a catalogue  of  such  architectural  remains  in  Mexico  as 
have  become  known  to  us,  either  by  personal  observation  or  the  reports  of  travellers. 
If  we  proceed  southward,  beyond  Yucatan  and  Chiapas,  and  pass  throughout  the 
various  states  of  what  is  geographically  known  as  “ Central  America,”  we  find,  in 
all  of  them,  innumerable  images  and  vessels,  and  fewer  monumental  or  architectural 


1 The  only  other  ornamental  remains  possessing  nearly  equal  claims  to  symmetrical  design,  are 
represented  in  some  Peruvian  ruins  near  Truxillo,  South  America.  See  Rivco  and  Yon  Tschudi. 


33 


MEXICAN  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY. 

) 

remains  of  importance  than  we  encountered  in  Mexico.  The  taste,  too,  as  well  as 
the  design  and  sculpture,  is  inferior;  nor  shall  we  again  meet  with  traces  of  evident 
superiority,  until  we  pass  the  broad  belts  of  the  equatorial  forests  and  rivers,  and 
descend  beyond  the  Amazon  to  the  ancient  realm  of  the  Incas  in  Peru. 

I will  not  close  this  paper  by  offering  any  theory  in  regard  to  climatic  influ- 
ences on  the  degrees  of  civilization  found  among  the  aboriginal  races  of  our 
continent  at  the  period  of  the  Spanish  conquest.  Still,  I hope  it  may  not  be 
considered  improper  to  remark  that,  while  the  hot  regions  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  equatorial  part  of  our  hemisphere  appear  nearly  destitute  of  monumental, 
traditional,  or  recorded  remains  of  their  inhabitants,  we  find,  according  to  all  these 
sources  of  knowledge,  that  the  best  samples  of  aboriginal  civilization  have  appa- 
rently originated  and  ripened,  between  10  and  25  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and 
between  10  and  25  degrees  of  south  latitude.  While  the  equatorial  heat  degene- 
rated man  into  an  indolent  vegetation,  the  northern  and  southern  portions  of  the 
tropics  rendered  him  progressive  and  fostered  his  social  instincts.  From  these 
points,  the  marks  of  civilization  seem  gradually  to  fade  away  towards  both  poles, 
till  they  merge,  through  the  nomadic  warrior,  into  the  squalid  Esquimaux  of  the 
north,  and,  through  the  Araucanian,  into  the  barbarous  Fuegan  of  the  south. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

DECEMBER,  1856. 


5 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  ARCHITECTURAL  REMAINS  AT  MITLA. 


ARCHITECTURAL  RUINS  NEAR  MITLA 


Sinclair's  lith,  Phil ^ 


IV. 


ANCIENT  FORTIFICATION  NEAR  MITLA. 


% 


2* 


J ■ 


V 


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